[Clinical symptomatology and laboratory diagnosis of 75 cases of ethylene glycol poisonings].

Between 1991 and 1995 there were 75 cases of ethylene glycol poisoning (GE) hospitalised in the Clinic of Acute Poisoning of Institute of Occupational Medicine in Lódź, which comprised 0.9% of the total number of patients. The most common were cases of accidental antifreeze liquids consumption. On admittance to the clinic the state of 59% of the patients was diagnosed as severe and very severe. The main symptoms were: metabolic acidosis, which developed in 77% cases of poisoning, and its consequences--the central nervous damage and the cardiovascular system distributions. The average pH amounted to 7.06 while the base deficit to 22.42 mmol/l. Among complications the most commonly observed was the acute renal failure (84%) which developed during the first 24 hrs in all the 25 cases ending in deaths. Only in 16 out of 63 cases, in which the acute renal failure occurred, multiple hemodialyses proved necessary. Other complications accompanying the poisoning were as follows: anaemia, pneumonia, the irreversible central nervous system damage, the disseminated intravascular coagulation syndrome, and the hepatic damage. The comparative analysis (base on the chi2 and median test) of the deceased and cured patients has shown a significant difference (p < 0.05), among others, concerning the plasma osmolality, the frequency of the acute renal failure and the central nervous system damage occurrence.