Treatment of phenobarbital overdose with activated charcoal
M. J. Goldberg and W. G. Berlinger
Patients with phenobarbital overdose who are treated only with supportive
care may remain comatose for several days because of the long elimination
half-life of phenobarbital. We treated two patients with phenobarbital
overdoses with the nasogastric administration of multiple doses of
activated charcoal. This safe therapy markedly shortened both the
elimination half-life of phenobarbital and the duration of coma in these
patients. If all such patients respond similarly, we believe that the
nasogastric administration of multiple doses of activated charcoal is the
method of choice to accelerate the elimination of phenobarbital from the
body.
