title: Does organophosphate poisoning cause cardiac injury?
abstract: Organophosphates are insecticides which are widely used as a suicidal agent in Iran. They are associated with different types of cardiac complications including cardiac arrest and arrhythmia, however their role in cardiac injury is not known yet. The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of myocardial damage in patients with cholinesterase poisoning.It was a prospective study conducted from January 2008 to March 2010. Cohorts of patients with cholinesterase poisoning due to suicidal attempt who have been referred to Loghman hospital were selected. Patients who have taken more than one poison or were used concomitant drugs were excluded. Physical examination was performed on admission to discover warning sign. Peripheral arterial blood gases, creatine kinase, creatine kinase-myocardial band, troponin-T measurements were performed in all cases. There were 24 patients, 7 of them women, with the mean age of 41.2±15.05 who were included in this study. Non-survivors had significantly higher levels of systolic blood pressure, partial pressure of oxygen in arterial blood, partial pressure of carbon dioxide, bicarbonate Glasgow Coma Scale scoring and longer duration of mechanical ventilation. Our findings showed that cardiac injury is an important cause of death in organophosphate poisoning. It could be hypothesized that cardiac injury is a strong predictor of death in patients with organophosphate poisoning.
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Abbas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aghabiklooei
authors.forename: Babak
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mostafazadeh
authors.forename: Esmaeil
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Farzaneh
authors.forename: Afsaneh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Morteza
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003402:Creatine Kinase / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D006323:Heart Arrest / Q000139:chemically induced*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D062025:Organophosphate Poisoning / Q000150:complications*; D014336:Troponin / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D014336:Troponin; D003402:Creatine Kinase