[Acute lithium poisoning: epidemiology, clinical characteristics, and treatment]. / Epidemiología, características clínicas y tratamiento de la intoxicación aguda por litio.

Lithium continues to be the treatment of choice for bipolar disorder. Acute lithium poisoning is a potentially serious event. We present a retrospective observational significative study of episodes of acute lithium poisoning during a 52- month period. Poisoning was defined by a blood lithium concentration of 1.5 mEq/L or higher. We analyzed treatment and epidemiologic and clinical characteristics of 70 episodes were identified (incidence density among treated patients, 1.76 per 100 patient-years). The most frequent cause of lithium poisoning was a concurrent medical condition (46%). Most poisonings were mild (74.2%), but neurologic involvement was identified in 40.3%. Electrocardiographic abnormalities were found in 8 cases. Acute renal failure, found in 23 patients (37.1%), was mild in most cases, although 11 patients required hemodialysis. We concluded that acute lithium poisoning is an uncommon complication, but risk needs to be lowered. Patients should be warned to avoid dosage errors and to take special care during concurrent illnesses and while taking other medications.

El litio sigue siendo el tratamiento de elección en el trastorno bipolar. La intoxicación aguda por litio (IAL) es un cuadro potencialmente grave. Se presenta un estudio observacional, retrospectivo de las IAL observadas durante un periodo de 52 meses. Se definió como IAL cuando se registró una concentración de litio en sangre 1,5 mEq/L. Se analizaron sus características clínicas, epidemiológicas y su tratamiento de 70 episodios de IAL (densidad de incidencia: 1,76 IAL por cada 100 pacientes tratados-año). La causa más frecuente de IAL fue un proceso patológico intercurrente (46%). La mayoría fueron de carácter leve (74,2 %), con sintomatología neurológica en el 40,3%. En 8 IAL hubo alteraciones electrocardiográficas, 23 IAL (37,1%) se asociaron con fracaso renal agudo, la mayoría de carácter leve y 11 precisaron hemodiálisis. Se concluye que la IAL es una complicación infrecuente, pero es necesario disminuir su riesgo advirtiendo al paciente ante la existencia de procesos intercurrentes, errores en la posología o polimedicación.

Epidemiología, características clínicas y tratamiento de la intoxicación aguda por litio / Acute lithium poisoning: epidemiology, clinical characteristics, and treatment

El litio sigue siendo el tratamiento de elección en el trastorno bipolar. La intoxicación aguda por litio (IAL) es un cuadro potencialmente grave. Se presenta un estudio observacional, retrospectivo de las IAL observadas durante un periodo de 52 meses. Se definió como IAL cuando se registró una concentración de litio en sangre 1,5 mEq/L. Se analizaron sus características clínicas, epidemiológicas y su tratamiento de 70 episodios de IAL (densidad de incidencia: 1,76 IAL por cada 100 pacientes tratados-año). La causa más frecuente de IAL fue un proceso patológico intercurrente (46%). La mayoría fueron de carácter leve (74,2 %), con sintomatología neurológica en el 40,3%. En 8 IAL hubo alteraciones electrocardiográficas, 23 IAL (37,1%) se asociaron con fracaso renal agudo, la mayoría de carácter leve y 11 precisaron hemodiálisis. Se concluye que la IAL es una complicación infrecuente, pero es necesario disminuir su riesgo advirtiendo al paciente ante la existencia de procesos intercurrentes, errores en la posología o polimedicación (AU)

Lithium continues to be the treatment of choice for bipolar disorder. Acute lithium poisoning is a potentially serious event. We present a retrospective observational significative study of episodes of acute lithium poisoning during a 52- month period. Poisoning was defined by a blood lithium concentration of 1.5 mEq/L or higher. We analyzed treatment and epidemiologic and clinical characteristics of 70 episodes were identified (incidence density among treated patients, 1.76 per 100 patient-years). The most frequent cause of lithium poisoning was a concurrent medical condition (46%). Most poisonings were mild (74.2%), but neurologic involvement was identified in 40.3%. Electrocardiographic abnormalities were found in 8 cases. Acute renal failure, found in 23 patients (37.1%), was mild in most cases, although 11 patients required hemodialysis. We concluded that acute lithium poisoning is an uncommon complication, but risk needs to be lowered. Patients should be warned to avoid dosage errors and to take special care during concurrent illnesses and while taking other medications (AU)

Efficacy of functional remediation in bipolar disorder: a multicenter randomized controlled study.

OBJECTIVE The authors sought to assess the efficacy of functional remediation, a novel intervention program, on functional improvement in a sample of euthymic patients with bipolar disorder. METHOD In a multicenter, randomized, rater-blind clinical trial involving 239 outpatients with DSM-IV bipolar disorder, functional remediation (N=77) was compared with psychoeducation (N=82) and treatment as usual (N=80) over 21 weeks. Pharmacological treatment was kept stable in all three groups. The primary outcome measure was improvement in global psychosocial functioning, measured blindly as the mean change in score on the Functioning Assessment Short Test from baseline to endpoint. RESULTS At the end of the study, 183 patients completed the treatment phase. Repeated-measures analysis revealed significant functional improvement from baseline to endpoint over the 21 weeks of treatment (last observation carried forward), suggesting an interaction between treatment assignment and time. Tukey's post hoc tests revealed that functional remediation differed significantly from treatment as usual, but not from psychoeducation. CONCLUSIONS Functional remediation, a novel group intervention, showed efficacy in improving the functional outcome of a sample of euthymic bipolar patients as compared with treatment as usual.