• Mustafa Şahan, Veyis Taşın, Ali Karakuş, Oguzhan Özcan, Umut Eryiğit, and Güven Kuvandık.
• Department of Emergency Medicine, Mustafa Kemal University Faculty of Medicine, Hatay-Turkey.
• Ulus Travma Acil Cer. 2016 Jul 1; 22 (4): 333-7.

BackgroundThe present objective was to evaluate clinical stages, complications, treatment modalities, and termination of treatment in patients who presented to the emergency department with snakebite.MethodsA total of 132 snakebite cases were retrospectively examined using emergency department records.ResultsThe majority of patients, 42.9% (n=57), had grade 0 snakebite. The local complication most frequently observed was pain (42.4%, n=56); the most common systemic complication was prolonged international normalized ratio (INR) level (5.3%, n=7). Local complications were observed in patients at all stages, while systemic complications were observed only in patients at advanced stages. Antivenom was administered in 46.4% (n=61) of patients, 52.2% (n=69) of patients were hospitalized, and 47.7% (n=63) of patients were discharged after 6-12 hours of monitoring. No negative outcome was observed during 6-month or year-long follow-up.ConclusionComplications should be evaluated based on type of toxin, and appropriate treatment should be initiated efficiently, according to clinical stage. This approach reduces or prevents the development of complications.

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