title: Human exposures to pentobarbital-phenytoin combination veterinary drugs.
abstract: A combination of pentobarbital and phenytoin is used as a veterinary euthanasia drug. Because of its lethal effect, this study described pentobarbital-phenytoin combination veterinary drug human exposures reported to Texas poison centers during 2000-2015. Of 66 exposures, 73% involved female and 27% male patients. The distribution by patient age was 3% 0-5 years, 5% 6-19 years, 91% 20+ years, and 2% unknown. The most common routes were ocular (41%), ingestion (32%), injection (23%), and dermal (18%). The exposure reasons were unintentional (77%) and intentional (23%). The exposure site was the workplace (52%), patient's own residence (38%), health-care facility (2%), and other/unknown (9%). The management site was managed on site (48%), at/en route to health-care facility (45%), referred to health-care facility (5%), and other (2%). The medical outcomes were no effect (23%), minor effect (30%), moderate effect (8%), major effect (8%), not followed nontoxic (3%), not followed minimal effects (24%), unable to follow potentially toxic (2%), and unrelated (3%). The most common adverse effects were ocular irritation/pain (18%), drowsiness/lethargy (15%), and coma (9%). The most common treatments were dilution/irrigation (70%), intravenous fluids (21%), and oxygen (14%). This study found few pentobarbital-phenytoin combination veterinary drug exposures were reported to Texas poison centers during a 16-year period. Although meant to be administered intravenously, the most common exposure routes were ocular and ingestion. Many of the exposures appeared to be unintentional and occurred at the workplace.
authors.affiliation: Texas Department of State Health Services, Austin, TX, USA.
authors.forename: M B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Forrester
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004338:Drug Combinations; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010424:Pentobarbital / Q000633:toxicity*; D010672:Phenytoin / Q000633:toxicity*; D011039:Poison Control Centers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013781:Texas / Q000453:epidemiology; D019155:Veterinary Drugs / Q000633:toxicity*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D004338:Drug Combinations; D019155:Veterinary Drugs; D010672:Phenytoin; D010424:Pentobarbital
keywords: Euthanasia drug; pentobarbital; phenytoin; poison center; veterinary drug