Sunday, June 3, 2007

68. Poisons/Antidotes/Purgatives

1 comment:

Mark said...

Vitamin K as antidote for poisoning by 4-hydroxcoumarin drugs

Vitamin K is a true antidote for poisoning by 4-hydroxycoumarin anticoagulant drugs (sometimes loosely referred to a coumarins).

These include the pharmaceutical warfarin, and also anticoagulant-mechanism poisons such as bromadiolone, which are commonly found in rodenticides.

4-hydroxycoumarin drugs possess anticoagulatory and rodenticidal properties because they can completely block synthesis of vitamin K in the liver.

Death is usually a result of internal hemorrhage. Treatment usually consists of repeated intravenous doses of vitamin K, followed by doses in pill form for a period of at least two weeks, though possibly up to 2 months, afterwards (in the case of the more potent 4-hydoxycoumarins used as rodenticides).

If caught early, prognosis is good, even when great amounts of the drug or poison are ingested.


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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_K