CHARACTERISTICS AND EMERGENCY TREATMENT OF ACUTE
POISONING IN CHILDREN: A CLINICAL REPORT OF 1458 CASES
He Huimei, et al.
Nanjing Children¡¯s Hospital, Nanjing, China
Objective: To investigate the
causes, characteristics, clinical expressions, diagnoses and treatment of
acute poisoning in children.
Methods: The cases of 1458
children patients with severe acute poisoning (hospitalized during 1986 ¨C
1998) were analysed and discussed.
Results: With the economic
development, chemicals are widely used in industry, agriculture and our
daily lives. As a result, poisoning in children caused by animals and
plants has decreased, while poisoning caused by chemicals has increased. In
clinical situations poisoning in children often has complicated causes.
Speedy emergency measures must be taken as soon as the properties of
poisoning are defined. In serious cases, the applications of peritoneal
dialyses, hyperbaric oxygen chamber, mechanical ventilation, and exchange
transfusion are found to be effective measures of treatment.
Conclusion: To protect children
from poisoning, drugs and chemicals for use in industry, agriculture, and
daily lives should be kept out of their reach.