Clinical Chemistry, Vol 22, 754-760, Copyright © 1976 by American Association for Clinical Chemistry

Efficacy of activated charcoal hemoperfusion in removing lethal doses of barbiturates and salicylate from the blood of rats and dogs

JB Hill, FL Palaia, JL McAdams, PJ Palmer and SM Maret

Rats were injected intraperitoneally with lethal doses of sodium pentobarbital (115 mg/kg) or a lethal mixture of sodium salicylate (500 mg/kg) and sodium acetazolamide (25 mg/kg). Within about 20 min, part of each group was connected to an extracorporeal circuit containing uncoated activated charcoal and part to an empty control circuit. After a 90-min hemoperfusion, the treated groups showed a significantly decreased mortality (58% to 14% for pentobarbital; 100% to 0% for salicylate). Dogs were injected intravenously with lethal doses of sodium phenobarbital (175 mg/kg). One group was treated by hemoperfusion through an empty device in a control extracorporeal circuit, a second group was treated with loose-bed activated charcoal devices, and a third group with fixed-bed activated charcoal devices. For both the fixed and loose-bed devices, a 5-h hemoperfusion markedly decreased mortality (100% to less than or equal to 15%). The lethal combination of salicylate and closed-circuit methoxyflurane anesthesia was also successfully treated in dogs. This study clearly demonstrates the lifesaving potential of uncoated activated charcoal hemoperfusion.

The following articles in journals at HighWire Press have cited this article:

				J. F. Winchester, M. C. Gelfand, M. Helliwell, J. A. Vale, R. Goulding, and G. E. Schreiner Extracorporeal Treatment of Salicylate or Acetaminophen Poisoning--Is There a Role? Arch Intern Med, February 23, 1981; 141(3): 370 - 374. [Abstract] [PDF]