Toxic alcohol ingestion: prompt recognition and management in the emergency department [digest]

Abstract

Identifying patients with potential toxic alcohol exposure and initiating appropriate management is critical to avoid significant patient morbidity. Sources of toxic alcohol exposure include ethylene glycol, methanol, diethylene glycol, propylene glycol, and isopropanol. Treatment considerations include the antidotes fomepizole and ethanol, and hemodialysis for removal of the parent compound and its toxic metabolites. Additional interventions include adjunctive therapies that may improve acidosis and enhance clearance of the toxic alcohol or metabolites. This issue reviews common sources of alcohol exposure, basic mechanisms of toxicity, physical examination and laboratory findings that may guide rapid assessment and management, and indications for treatment. [Points & Pearls is a digest of Emergency Medicine Practice].