In 2003, the American Association of Poison Control Centers reported more than 127,000
exposures involving acetaminophen (acetyl-para-amino-phenol or APAP). Of these exposures,
65,000 patients received treatment in a medical facility, and 16,500 received N-acetylcysteine
(NAC). There were 214 deaths involving overdose where an analgesic agent was thought
to be primarily responsible. In 62 of these cases, APAP was the single agent involved
[
[1]
]. APAP toxicity is also a major cause of fulminant hepatic failure (FHF) and is implicated
in as many as 39% of cases presenting to tertiary care hospitals [
[2]
].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.
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© 2006 Elsevier Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
