Gastrointestinal (GI) decontamination is the therapy that is most commonly administered
to patients who have had acute oral exposure to poisons. These techniques were used
in almost 200,000 poisoning cases reported to North American Poison Centers in 2001
[
[1]
]. The theory behind GI decontamination is simple: poisons that are not absorbed into
the blood cannot cause systemic toxicity. This principle has been recognized since
the fifth century bc [
[2]
]; hence decontamination has become accepted without rigorous scientific data. Over
the past several years, as practitioners demand quality data to guide treatment decisions,
we have observed a deconstruction of “standard” poisoning management. The purpose
of this article is to describe the commonly used techniques of decontamination, review
the literature that describes their efficacy, and, finally, provide summary recommendations
for the use of GI decontamination in the treatment of poisoned patients.To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Footnotes
Portions of this article were previously published in Holstege CP, Rusyniak DE: Medical Toxicology. 89:6, Med Clin North Am, 2005; with permission.
Dr. Heard is supported by a Jahnigen Career Scholars Award from the American Geriatric Society and the Hartford Foundation.
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Copyright
© 2006 Elsevier Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
