A 4 year retrospective analysis of our patients with mushroom poisoning

Abstract

Objective: This study presented the demographic, clinical and laboratory data for the patients who presented to our emergency department (ED) with mushroom poisoning. Methods: We retrospectively examined the data for adult patients with mushroom poisoning that presented to the ED of Uludag University, Faculty of Medicine between 1 January 2007 and 31 December 2010. Results: A total of 53 patients were enrolled in the study. The mean age was 46.58 +/- 15.47. 52.8% of the patients were female, while 47.2% were male. These patients were typically admitted in the autumn. The most commonly seen symptoms were gastrointestinal such as nausea and vomiting. The time to symptom onset was <6 hours for 30.2% of the patients and >6 hours in 69.8% of the patients. While 73.5% of the patients received gastric lavage, activated charcoal and intravenous fluid therapy, 15.1% received penicillin, N-acetylcysteine and intravenous fluid therapy. For the remaining patients (11.4%) silibinin, dialysis and plasmapheresis were administered. While 35.8% of the patients were hospitalised, 64.2% were discharged from the ED. The median duration of stay in the ED was 6 hours (range: 1-27 hours); the median duration of stay among inpatients was 6 days (range: 1-36 days). Three of the hospitalised patients died, and two underwent hepatic transplantation. Conclusions: Mushroom poisoning remains an important issue that is encountered in rural areas during the rainy autumn season in our region. The condition may be fatal, but can be prevented by early and appropriate treatment.