AI Summary & Key Takeaways
AI InsightWe think that the second dose of antivenom should be applied at the 8th hour especially in pediatricpatients with ongoing serious systemic findings and all patients should be observed for at least 24 hours.
📌 3 Key Takeaways
Özet
Aim: It has been known for years that the toxic effects of scorpion envenomation can be fatal. Scorpion antivenom administration reduces theseverity of systemic toxicity and fatal complications resulting from envenomation. In cases where clinical progression is poor, a second dose ofantivenom can be applied. We aimed to investigate the effectiveness of a second dose of antivenom in this study.Materials and Methods: One hundred patients between 0-17 years who were followed up due to scorpion stings or poisonings in Hatay MustafaKemal University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics between October 2016 and March 2018 were analyzed for age, gender, season,site of scorpion stings, clinical findings, treatment, follow-up steps and the effects of a second dose of antivenom on clinical progressionretrospectively.Results: Of the total 100 patients, 45 were female (45%) and 55 were male (55%). The average age of the patients was 3.5 years. Sting locationsin order of frequency were as follows; feet, hands, legs, arms, head-neck, genital area. Single dose antivenom was given to 26 patients anda second dose was given to the remaining 74 patients. All patients recovered except two patients who were referred with cardiopulmonaryinsufficiency and passed away.Conclusion: We observed that early antivenom therapy reduces the risk of developing systemic toxicity and also an administered second doseof antivenom corrects systemic findings. We think that the second dose of antivenom should be applied at the 8th hour especially in pediatricpatients with ongoing serious systemic findings and all patients should be observed for at least 24 hours.