ABSTRACT
Background: In developing countries, the substances most commonly used for self-poisoning are agricultural pesticides including rodenticides. Authors aimed to assess the clinical status and outcomes of patients with rodenticide poisoning in a tertiary care hospital.Methods: This retrospective record-based study was carried over three years. Apart from demographic details, information regarding the time of ingestion, nature and amount of the compound. Other details included clinical features, complications, treatment and outcome of the patient. Descriptive analysis was carried out by the mean and standard deviation for quantitative variables, frequency and proportion for categorical variables.Results: Of the 120 study subjects, 85 (93.40%) participants self-harmed, 2 (2.20%) were homicidal, and 4 (4.40%) had accidentally consumed the rodenticide. About 52 (32.70%) participants had vomiting, 34 (21.38%) had giddiness, 32 (20.13%) participants had abdominal pain. On the whole, 85 (73.28%) participants recovered, 23 (19.83%) participants had absconded, 6 (5.17%) participants had referred and 2 (1.72%) of them expired.Conclusions: Phosphorous compounds, particularly yellow phosphorous are the most lethal rodenticides followed by Coumadin. Symptomatic management of the patients at the earliest possible time is the mainstay, as there are no specific antidotes for any of the compounds.
ABSTRACT
Chronic pancreatitis (CP) is caused by a wide variety of causes such as alcohol, biliary diseases, trauma, infections, autoimmune diseases, and hereditary disorders. Patients with CP present with disabling abdominal pain, weight loss, exocrine insufficiency, and diabetes and are at risk for malignant transformation. Pancreatic calcification narrows down the diagnosis of CP. Uncommon causes of calcific pancreatitis include autoimmune pancreatitis, hereditary pancreatitis, tropical pancreatitis, groove pancreatitis, and pancreatitis associated with cystic fibrosis, Ascaris, and ectopic pancreatic tissue. Calcific pancreatitis in young diabetics of tropical countries could be either due to alcohol or tropical pancreatitis. We report a young man with weight loss and steatorrhea, but without abdominal pain whose evaluation led to a diagnosis of tropical CP and diabetes.