ABSTRACT
Wild mushroom poisoning (MP) is an important medical emergency that may have serious clinical outcome. The aim of this study was to evaluate the demographic and clinical features of patients with wild MP. This study was designed retrospectively by examining files of the patients with wild MP who were admitted to Ondokuz Mayis University Emergency Department, between January 2002 and December 2007. Patients > or =16 years of age were included in the study. A total of 317 patients poisoned by wild mushrooms (mean age, 42.0 +/- 16.3 years; 67.5% female) were studied. All poisonings were accidental, i.e. consumption of wild mushrooms collected from open fields and woodlands or purchased from local bazaars. The common symptoms and complaints on admission were nausea (86.8%) and vomiting (79.8%). The poisoning latent phase in most cases was <6 hours (86.8%). Most of the poisonings occurred in autumn (59.6%). Three patients died in the hospital due to acute liver failure and complications. The duration of hospitalization was a median 3 days (range: 1-12 days). The public should be informed about the probable hazards of wild mushroom ingestion.
Subject(s)
Mushroom Poisoning/epidemiology , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Emergency Service, Hospital/statistics & numerical data , Female , Health Promotion , Hepatic Insufficiency/blood , Hepatic Insufficiency/etiology , Hospitals, University/statistics & numerical data , Humans , Length of Stay , Liver Failure, Acute/blood , Liver Failure, Acute/etiology , Liver Failure, Acute/mortality , Male , Medical Records , Middle Aged , Mushroom Poisoning/mortality , Mushroom Poisoning/physiopathology , Mushroom Poisoning/prevention & control , Retrospective Studies , Seasons , Time Factors , Treatment Outcome , Turkey/epidemiology , Young AdultABSTRACT
PURPOSE: The aims of this study were to determine the value of chest radiography in diagnosing lung parenchymal injury in patients with thoracic trauma, and to evaluate the frequency of lung parenchymal injury by using thoracic computed tomography (CT). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between January 2005 and June 2006, we retrospectively evaluated the anteroposterior chest radiographs and thoracic CTs of 60 patients that presented to our emergency department and were hospitalized due to multi-organ trauma. RESULTS: Chest radiography revealed parenchymal injury in 32 of the patients, while thoracic CT confirmed parenchymal injury in only 27 of these 32 patients. Chest radiographs did not reveal any parenchymal injury in 28 of the patients, whereas thoracic CT detected parenchymal injury in 12 of these 28 patients. Thoracic CT results were accepted as the gold standard in the evaluation of patients with chest trauma and showed that the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of chest radiography in determining parenchymal injury were 69%, 76%, 84%, and 57%, respectively. In addition, thoracic CT revealed that 65% of the patients with blunt thoracic trauma suffered parenchymal injury. CONCLUSION: The sensitivity of anteroposterior chest radiography in identifying lung parenchymal injury was low, with a high false negative rate; therefore, we think that early evaluation with thoracic CT is extremely helpful in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with thoracic trauma, adding to the cooperative work that exists between radiologists and emergency physicians.