Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA
-
Emerg Med Australas · Feb 2011
Using 0.45% saline solution and a modified dosing regimen for infusing N-acetylcysteine in children with paracetamol poisoning.
N-acetylcysteine (NAC) administration is recommended to all patients judged to be at risk of developing hepatotoxicity following paracetamol overdose. However, it has been shown that standard i.v. dosing can cause symptomatic hyponatraemia in children. We describe a case series using 0.45% NaCl plus 5% dextrose for infusing i.v. NAC in children with paracetamol poisoning. ⋯ These findings support the use of saline-containing solutions to administer NAC as an alternative to 5% dextrose, and suggest that a two-stage infusion regimen should be further investigated with prospective studies.