Antifreeze on a freezing morning: ethylene glycol poisoning in a 2-year-old
- 1Paediatrics Department, North Middlesex Hospital, London, UK
- 2Medical Department, St George’s University, Grenada, West Indies, Grenada
- 3Anaesthetics Department, North Middlesex Hospital, London, UK
- 4Biochemistry Department, North Middlesex Hospital, London, UK
- Correspondence to Dr Gayle Hann,
This case report describes the presentation and management of a 2-year-old child who ingested a potentially fatal amount of ethylene glycol (EG). There are few published cases worldwide of EG poisoning in children managed with fomepizole. All cases described in the literature were managed in a paediatric intensive care unit. In this case, the child presented irritable, pale and confused with high anion gap metabolic acidosis. As there were no paediatric intensive care beds available in the region, the child was successfully managed in a high dependency area in our district general hospital. The child fully recovered and was discharged home in 7 days. The authors believe that multi-disciplinary team management and the use of fomepizole contributed to the positive outcome and this case raised many useful learning points.
Competing interests None.
Patient consent Obtained.