These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: Life-threatening diphenhydramine toxicity presenting with seizures and a wide complex tachycardia improved with intravenous fat emulsion.
    Author: Abdelmalek D, Schwarz ES, Sampson C, Halcomb SE, McCammon C, Arroyo-Plasencia A, Stenger A, Krehbiel N, Mullins ME.
    Journal: Am J Ther; 2014; 21(6):542-4. PubMed ID: 24096706.
    Abstract:
    Diphenhydramine toxicity manifests with signs of anticholinergic toxicity; therapy is generally supportive. In rare cases, patients can also present with a wide complex tachycardia due to sodium channel blockade. Treatment involves sodium bicarbonate. Lidocaine and hypertonic saline are used for arrhythmias refractory to sodium bicarbonate. Although intravenous fat emulsion (IFE) therapy is proposed as an adjunctive therapy due to the lipophilicity of diphenhydramine (octanol/water partition coefficient of 3.3), successful use of IFE after a confirmed sole ingestion of diphenhydramine is not previously reported. We present the case of a 30-year-old woman presenting with seizures, a wide complex tachycardia, and cardiovascular collapse after an ingestion of diphenhydramine refractory to other therapies with rapid improvement after IFE administration.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]