Articles: flunitrazepam.
-
Archiv für Kriminologie · Mar 2002
Case Reports[Fatal outcome of poisoning with the benzodiazepines flunitrazepam and diazepam].
On a wintry day a 29-year-old woman was found dead beside her car showing head injuries and signs of hypothermia. Several empty packets of sedative and hypnotic drugs were lying inside the car. ⋯ It was concluded that benzodiazepine intake led to a disturbance of consciousness. Whether the woman died in this situation due to the icy temperature as a result of hypothermia or whether she died or would have died solely due to benzodiazepine overdosage could not be clarified.
-
A 39 year old male comes to the emergency room because of rapidly increasing pain in his left leg one hour after the injection of Flunitrazepam into a groin vessel. There is a history of drug abuse for more than 15 years. The left leg is cool and shows intense patchy cyanosis. ⋯ The accidental injection of drugs into the femoral artery may result in the clinical picture of acute limb ischemia without occlusion of the big vessels of the leg. This obviously occurs most often with benzodiazepines, especially when crushed tablets soluted in water are injected. Color-coded duplex sonography is able to show open vessels within minutes and prevents ineffective surgical interventions.
-
Ann Fr Anesth Reanim · Oct 2001
Case Reports[Tetraplegia in the course of coma from drug intoxication].
It is reported a case of quadriplegia occurring in a 67-year-old women after she commits suicide with flunitrazepam. The patient stayed during around twenty hours unconscious, in the sitting position, with an extreme flexion of the neck on the left side. After injection of flumazenil the patient's consciousness was restored. ⋯ The fact that the patient suffered from cervicarthrosis would have already impaired the spinal blood flow regulation and consequently had probably damaged the spinal cord. No clinical improvement of the quadriplegia was noticed and the patient died in the intensive care unit thirteen days after admission. Such an exceptional complication after a toxic coma remind us the necessity to avoid long lasting vicious position of the cervical spine in anaesthesia and emergency practice.
-
This is the first US report of continuous iv flumazenil infusion for benzodiazepine poisoning. A MEDLINE search from 1966 to 1999 revealed no similar reports in the US literature. A 24-y-o woman ingested 50, 2 mg (=100 mg) flunitrazepam tablets in a suicide attempt. ⋯ Flumazenil infusion was restarted at 1.0 mg/h with resolution of sedation and hypoventilation. Thirty h after overdose flumazenil infusion was terminated without resedation or hypoventilation. Continuous iv flumazenil infusion is not US Food and Drug Administration approved, and further study is necessary in carefully selected patients to determine its safety and efficacy.
-
To describe gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB), flunitrazepam, and ketamine and their purported uses to facilitate acquaintance rape. Patient presentation characteristics, treatment regimens, processes to detect the presence of the medications by toxicology screening, and methods to avoid exposure are discussed. ⋯ Because of their extensive drug knowledge and frequent access to patients, pharmacists are uniquely positioned to educate patients and other health care professionals about the dangers of acquaintance rape drugs and methods to reduce their risk of becoming victims.