• Melissa A Miller, Marisela Navarro, Steven B Bird, and Jennifer L Donovan.
• Department of Pharmacy, UMass Memorial Medical Center, MA, USA.
• J Med Toxicol. 2007 Dec 1;3(4):152-6.

IntroductionWe sought to compare antiemetic use after acetaminophen poisoning in patients treated with oral or intravenous (IV) N-acetylcysteine (NAC).MethodsOur retrospective chart review identified 20 orally treated patients and 17 IV-treated patients. For both groups, we calculated the total number of antiemetic doses given, their associated cost, and also determined parameters that correlated with antiemetic use.ResultsIV-treated patients received fewer total antiemetic doses than those receiving oral NAC (1.1 0.2 vs. 2.8 0.7; P 0.04). Antiemetic cost correlated with doses received for both groups; however, because the regression lines differed (P 0.02), antiemetic therapy cost was less in IV-treated patients. In addition, serum acetaminophen concentration correlated with total antiemetic doses in oral NAC patients (P 0.002) but not with IV treatment patients (P 0.78).ConclusionsIntravenous NAC reduced antiemetic utilization, and it costs less than oral therapy. Furthermore, antiemetic use appeared to be determined by a combination of acetaminophen concentration and NAC administration route.

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