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Acetaminophen is the pharmaceutical most frequently ingested by small children. Although past research has allowed the safe management of 90% of these ingestions at home, several thousand are still referred to emergency departments annually. With the goal of further reducing the number of unnecessary referrals, the risk/benefit considerations of alternate referral strategies were analyzed. In a retrospective poison center chart review study from 11 centers, the records of children between the ages 1 and 6 years who acutely ingested acetaminophen and were referred to a hospital for determination of serum acetaminophen concentration in 1986 and 1987 were identified using the database of the American Association of Poison Control Centers. Risk of hepatic injury was assigned on the basis of the Rumack-Matthew acetaminophen toxicity nomogram. The cohort was stratified in terms of the amount ingested and whether a pediatric or adult preparation was ingested. The direct cost of an evaluation was estimated from four centers. Sensitivity, specificity and direct cost of each risk identification strategy were calculated. Eight hundred sixty six of 2091 patients had a timed serum acetaminophen concentration recorded. Of these, three patients had results in the 'probable risk' area of the nomogram. A referral reduction strategy which would refer only children who ingest 200 mg/kg or more of an adult preparation could eliminate 82% of referrals without missing any of these 'probable risk' patients. Six other children were determined to have serum acetaminophen concentrations in an area of the nomogram labeled 'possible risk'. No referral reduction strategy explored identified all of these patients. The average charge for an emergency department evaluation in 1992 was $272.00. These data suggest that children less than six years of age who ingest pediatric acetaminophen products other than those from packages containing greater than 30 tablets or who ingest less than 200 mg/kg of an adult preparation may be safely managed at home without referral to a hospital. This strategy would result in significant cost savings and prevent unnecessary inconvenience to many patients and families., INTRODUCTION Fifty thousand to one hundred thousand children less than 6 years of age unintentionally ingest products containing acetaminophen each year[1]. The vast majority of childhood acetaminophen ingestions involve small [...]

The past several years have seen a marked increase in the recreational use of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) or “Ecstasy”. MDMA use is especially common among young people participating in dance parties called “raves”. Paramethoxyamphetamlne (PMA) exhibits both structural and pharmacological similarity to MDMA. It may, however, be a more potent central stimulant, particularly in its effects on serotonergic transmission. Several fatalities from PMA have been reported in Australia, and here we report three recent fatalities that occurred in the midwestern United States in which each of the decedents believed that they were ingesting MDMA. Symptoms observed included agitation and bruxism, progressing to severe hyperthermia, convulsions, and hemorrhage. Blood was screened for drugs of abuse by enzyme immunoassay with the presence of amphetamines indicated in each case. Confirmation and quantitation for amphetamines was performed by gas chromatography—mass spectrometry. The deceased, two males ages 19 and 24 and a female age 18, had postmortem blood PMA concentrations of 1.07, 0.60, and 1.90 mg/L, respectively. PMA is not a contaminant of MDMA, and no MDMA was found in any of these cases. The primary metabolite of PMA is produced by O-demethylation to 4-hydroxyamphetamine, a reaction catalyzed by cytochrome P450 2D6. This enzyme is noted to be genetically polymorphic. Those with the “slow metabolizer” phenotype may be likely to have higher peak blood concentrations of PMA. Whether any of the decedents described herein were of the slow metabolizer phenotype is not known. Several groups have advocated the onsite use of the Marquis Test for the purpose of pill screening in efforts to distinguish PMA from MDMA. A dark purple is consistent with MDMA, whereas PMA imparts no color change in this test. PMA is often in the form of a white pill with a Mitsubishi symbol on one side. This design has been identified in at least one of these fatalities.