title: Brain computed tomographic scan findings in acute opium overdose patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Early radiologic evaluations including noncontrast computed tomographic (CT) scan of the brain have been reported to be useful in the diagnosis and management of the intoxicated patients. Changes in the brain CT scan of the acute opium overdose patients have little been studied to date. This study aimed to evaluate changes of the brain CT scans in the acute opium overdose patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this retrospective study, medical records of all acute opium overdose patients hospitalized in Loghman-Hakim Poison Hospital in Tehran, Iran, between September 2009 and September 2010 were identified. Those who had undergone noncontrast brain CT within the first 24 hours of hospital presentation were included. Patients with any underlying disease, head trauma, underlying central nervous system disease, epilepsy, and multidrug ingestion were excluded. The patients' demographic information, vital signs, and laboratory data at presentation were extracted and recorded. The data were analyzed using SPSS software version 17 (SPSS, Chicago, IL).
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 71 patients were included. Fifty-eight patients (80.5%) survived, and 10 (13.8%) died. Fourteen cases (19.7%) had abnormal CT findings including 8 cases of generalized cerebral edema and 6 cases of infarction/ischemia. There were no statistically significant differences between the patients with and without abnormal CT scan findings with respect to age, sex, systolic and/or diastolic blood pressures, pulse rate, respiratory rate, occurrence of seizures, pH, Pco(2), HCO(3)(-), blood sodium level, and blood glucose level (all P values were > .05). However, a statistically significant difference was found between these patients in terms of outcome (P = .007).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Abnormal brain CT findings are detected in about 20% of the acute opium overdose patients who are ill enough to warrant performance of the brain CT scan and associate with a poor prognosis in this group of the patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Hazrat Rasoul Akram Hospital, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Farkhondeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Jamshidi
authors.forename: Babak
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sadighi
authors.forename: Kamran
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Aghakhani
authors.forename: Hossein
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sanaei-Zadeh
authors.forename: Mohammadali
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Emamhadi
authors.forename: Nasim
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zamani
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001927:Brain Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000453:epidemiology; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D062787:Drug Overdose / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009293:Opioid-Related Disorders / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000453:epidemiology; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*