Organophosphate poisoning.

Organophosphate compounds insecticides are the most commonly associated with serious human toxicity. We reviewed the adult cases of organophosphate poisoning seen at HURRA from January 1986 to January 1990. We had 14 cases, all male patients. The most common mode of exposure was by ingestion in a suicidal attempt, (8/14 cases). The most common symptom observed was nausea (6/14 patients), and the most common sign was increased bronchial secretions (8/14 patients). Laboratory abnormalities were similar to those previously reported in the literature: leukocytosis (10/14 cases), hyperglycemia (5/14 cases) and hypokalemia (4/14 cases). Patients were treated following accepted guidelines. None of our patients developed seizures nor ventricular arrhythmias. One of our patients developed respiratory failure and required mechanical ventilation. Two patients developed pneumonic processes, requiring intravenous antibiotic therapy. The hospital stay of these two patients was prolonged (7 and 10 days respectively). For the other 12 patients, the hospital stay ranged from 2 to 4 days. We had no mortality in our series. We were able to obtain follow-up interview by telephone with 10 of the 14 patients and we did not find any history of symptoms of delayed clinical toxicity.