Critical care clinics
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Anticoagulant and antiplatelet drugs target a specific portion of the coagulation cascade or the platelet activation and aggregation pathway. The primary toxicity associated with these agents is hemorrhage. Understanding the pharmacology of these drugs allows the treating clinician to choose the correct antidotal therapy. ⋯ The anticoagulants covered in this review are vitamin K antagonists, heparins, fondaparinux, hirudin derivatives, argatroban, oral factor Xa antagonists, and dabigatran. The antiplatelet agents reviewed are aspirin, adenosine diphosphate antagonists, dipyridamole, and glycoprotein IIb/IIIa antagonists. Additional notable toxicities are also reviewed.
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Medications used to treat diabetes mellitus are heterogeneous, with widely differing safety profiles in therapeutic use and in overdose. Insulin overdose may produce severe and prolonged hypoglycemia. ⋯ Glucagon-like peptide 1 agonists and dipeptidyl peptidase 4 inhibitors are benign in overdose in diabetic patients but may produce profound hypoglycemia in nondiabetic patients. Euglycemic diabetic ketoacidosis may develop in critically ill patients taking sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors.
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As the cancer population increases and immunotherapy becomes widely utilized, severe toxicities from these treatments will become more prevalent. In cancer patients, the most common immunotherapies that lead to critical illness are chimeric antigen receptor T cells, monoclonal antibodies, and immune checkpoint inhibitors. ⋯ A multidisciplinary approach for diagnosis and treatment is recommended. This article reviews the most common toxicities from immunotherapy and offers a therapy-specific and system-based approach for affected patients.
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This article reviews the background, metabolism, clinical effects, and treatment of toxic alcohols, specifically ethylene glycol, methanol, diethylene glycol, propylene glycol, and isopropyl alcohol. This article also reviews the importance of an anion gap metabolic acidosis in relation to toxic alcohols and explores both the utility and the limitations of the osmole gap in patient management.
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Critical care clinics · Jul 2021
ReviewPharmacokinetic and Pharmacodynamic Principles for Toxicology.
Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic interactions between drugs and the body play a vital role in the therapeutic effects of drugs as well as their toxicity. Toxic effects may evolve from high doses of drugs or from alterations in the absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion of those drugs. The effective dose of a drug is influenced by the initial dose, route of administration, drug formulation, and bioavailability. This effective dose, in conjunction with the frequency of dosing, duration of exposure, and pharmacodynamic variability, directly affects the toxicity experienced in the body.