Unintentional pediatric superwarfarin exposures: do we really need a prothrombin time?
OBJECTIVE
To determine whether routine follow-up coagulation studies are useful in children with accidental exposures to rodenticides containing superwarfarin compounds.


METHODS
Retrospective review of poison center charts involving pediatric superwarfarin exposures occurring in two 2-year periods.


METHODS
An American Association of Poison Control Centers-certified regional poison control center with an annual call volume of 55 000 calls per year from a 2-state area with a combined population of 4 million people.


METHODS
Prothrombin times and/or international normalized ratios and reported clinical signs of excessive anticoagulation after exposure.


RESULTS
Of 542 children in 4 years of data collection, follow-up prothrombin times and/or international normalized ratios measurements did not detect any significant coagulation abnormalities. No child developed bleeding complications. No child required or received antidotal treatment with vitamin K.


CONCLUSIONS
Normal preschool-aged children with unintentional acute exposures to superwarfarin rodenticides do not require any routine follow-up laboratory studies and do not require any medical intervention.
Mullins
M E
ME
Oregon Poison Center, Department of Emergency Medicine, Oregon Health Sciences Center, Portland, Oregon, USA. mullinsm@msnotes.wustl.edu
Brands
C L
CL
Daya
M R
MR
D015110:4-Hydroxycoumarins / Q000506:poisoning*; D000925:Anticoagulants / Q000506:poisoning*; D002648:Child; D006474:Hemorrhagic Disorders / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000175:diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D011517:Prothrombin Time; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012378:Rodenticides / Q000506:poisoning*
D015110:4-Hydroxycoumarins; D000925:Anticoagulants; D012378:Rodenticides; C013418:bromfenacoum