Emergency care for patients with critical poisoning from eating puffer fish

According to information the hospital collected from her family, on the afternoon of March 3, Ms. M prepared and ate puffer fish at home. Not long after, she showed signs of fatigue, drowsiness, and vomiting, so she was taken to the Emergency Department - Quang Nam Central General Hospital.

Patient M ( second from left ) was discharged from the hospital on March 11.

Through tests, the doctor quickly determined that the patient was severely poisoned, at risk of acute respiratory failure. Immediately, the patient was given a gastric lavage, activated charcoal, and transferred to the Intensive Care and Anti-Poison Department for close monitoring.

About 5 hours later, the patient's condition worsened with symptoms such as respiratory muscle weakness, deep coma, urinary disorders... Doctors decided to intubate, support ventilation and perform blood filtration to remove toxins. After 6 hours of blood filtration, the patient began to regain consciousness, and his perception improved significantly.

The next day, Mrs. M's health gradually stabilized, her strength fully recovered, and her breathing tube was removed. However, due to signs of fever and the risk of pneumonia due to inhalation of toxic substances during vomiting, her hospital stay will be prolonged. On March 6, the patient was transferred to the Department of Internal Medicine for treatment and was discharged on March 11.

Puffer fish contain the toxin Tetrodotoxin, which is concentrated in the skin, liver, intestines, especially the testicles and ovaries. If not prepared properly, the eater is at high risk of poisoning. Recently, Quang Nam Central General Hospital has received many cases of puffer fish poisoning similar to patient M.

Therefore, doctors recommend that if there are signs of suspected puffer fish poisoning such as vomiting, numbness of the lips, numbness of the limbs, drowsiness, and decreased consciousness, the patient should be quickly taken to the nearest medical facility for timely emergency treatment to avoid danger to life.

Source: https://cand.com.vn/y-te/cap-cuu-kip-thoi-benh-nhan-an-ca-noc-bi-ngo-doc-nguy-kich-i761544/