title: Toxicologic emergencies in the intensive care unit: management using reversal agents and antidotes.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To review the most common drugs implicated in overdoses admitted to the intensive care unit focusing on antidotes and reversal agents used in their management.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Poisonings and overdoses due to pharmaceutical agents result in more than 100 000 critical care unit admissions each year. Ingestion of toxic alcohols, calcium channel blockers, beta-adrenergic antagonists, benzodiazepines, opioids, acetaminophen, tricyclic antidepressants, and salicylates are associated with a high rate of morbidity and mortality. Reviewing the mechanism of toxicity due to specific agents along with the mechanism of action, dosing, and adverse effects of appropriate antidotes is important for the successful management of these patients within the critical care unit.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Understanding the most prevalent overdoses and their management using reversal agents and antidotes is essential to the overall treatment of these critically ill patients.
authors.affiliation: Emergency Department, John Peter Smith Hospital, Fort Worth, Texas 76104, USA. sruti53@gmail.com
authors.forename: Sruti R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Patel
mesh_terms: D000931:Antidotes / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003422:Critical Care; D062787:Drug Overdose / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D064420:Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D004630:Emergencies; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D000931:Antidotes