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Review Article| Volume 26, ISSUE 1, P31-48, March 2006

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Differentiating the Causes of Metabolic Acidosis in the Poisoned Patient

  • Bryan S. Judge
    Correspondence
    DeVos Children's Hospital Regional Poison Center, 1300 Michigan NE, Suite 203, Grand Rapids, MI 49503.
    Affiliations
    DeVos Children's Hospital Regional Poison Center, Grand Rapids, MI, USA

    Grand Rapids MERC/Michigan State University Program in Emergency Medicine, Grand Rapids, MI, USA
    Search for articles by this author
      Metabolic acidosis may be a significant consequence of a vast array of toxins. Hence, determining which drugs or toxins might be responsible for metabolic acidosis in a patient with an unknown ingestion, accidental exposure, or exposure from therapeutic drug use can present daunting diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. More importantly, vital cellular functions and metabolic processes become impaired with increasing acidosis [
      • Gauthier P.M.
      • Szerlip H.M.
      Metabolic acidosis in the intensive care unit.
      ,
      • Swenson E.R.
      Metabolic acidosis.
      ]. Therefore, it is paramount that clinicians recognize the substances that can result in metabolic acidosis so that timely and appropriate therapy may be instituted.
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