[Baclofen-intoxication in a child resulting in coma, bradycardia and transitory defect of visual power]

Abstract

A twelve and a half year old girl of foreign nationality was been found in her domestic environment in unwakeable condition. The emergency was alarmed, and she was transferred to the children's hospital. Her condition at this time: she was unconscious and suffering from cold sweat but her circulation was stable and her respiration sufficient. Because of language barriers it was difficult to find out the antecedence of her state, but an empty box of pills (Amitryptilin) lying next to the patient may serve as a first hint to a intoxication. The father denied that his daughter might have consumed drugs or alcohol and meant that any abuse of medicine was out of the question. First urinary measurements to check if any drugs might be involved remain inconspicuous; in a control measurement of the blood 12 hours later only an elevation of the CPK is noticed as an unusual detail. The CPK-MB remains being according to normal. The native CT of the skull remains inconspicuous as well as the control with contrastation after 12 hours and a MRT-examination after 36 hours. The liquor punction does not give hints to any pathological facts. The EEG shows a high degree of continuous irregular slowe waves over both hemispheres in the delta and theta activity range. This gives reason to assume an encephalitis. The result of an electrocardiogram reveals a sinus bradycardia. The therapy was symptomatically, virustatically with aciclovir, antibiotically with cefotaxim and prophylactically against edema of brain with dexamethason. After 24 hours the patient abruptly awakes from coma and after 36 hours the reason for the coma can be stated: The toxicological examinations of the blood lead to the result: Intoxication with Baclofen. Explantation for the origin of the tablets: The family lives together with an aunt, who, after a cerebrovascular accident, was treated with Baclofen, Amitryptilin and ASA.