Acetaminophen poisoning

Acetaminophen poisoning is tissue injury caused by excessive exposure to acetaminophen, most notably liver damage when its reactive metabolite accumulates beyond the liver’s defenses.

Acetaminophen: A widely used pain reliever and fever reducer that can cause severe liver injury in excessive doses. The parent drug is converted into the metabolite that drives most poisoning-related liver damage.
N-acetylcysteine: A medication that replenishes glutathione and supports detoxification of acetaminophen’s reactive metabolite. It is the principal antidote and works best when given soon after a toxic exposure.
Acute overdose: A harmful exposure caused by taking a toxic amount of a substance over a short period. A single large acetaminophen ingestion is the pattern for which timed nomogram assessment is designed.
Idiosyncratic drug-induced liver injury: Liver damage from a drug that occurs unpredictably in a small subset of people at usual doses. Unlike acetaminophen toxicity, it is not usually explained by a predictable dose-dependent metabolite burden.
N-acetyl-p-benzoquinone imine: A reactive acetaminophen metabolite, commonly abbreviated NAPQI, that can damage cells when it accumulates. Excessive acetaminophen metabolism produces NAPQI faster than the liver can neutralize it.
Rumack–Matthew nomogram: A graph used to estimate liver-injury risk from a measured acetaminophen concentration after a single acute ingestion. It helps determine whether antidotal treatment is indicated in timed, single-ingestion cases.
Repeated supratherapeutic ingestion: Taking doses above recommended limits repeatedly over time, rather than in one discrete overdose. This pattern can cause severe injury, but a single timed concentration nomogram does not apply.
Viral hepatitis: Inflammation of the liver caused by infection with hepatitis viruses. It can resemble poisoning clinically, but results from viral infection rather than drug metabolism.
Glutathione: An antioxidant tripeptide that helps cells neutralize reactive compounds and maintain redox balance. Glutathione normally detoxifies NAPQI; depletion leaves liver cells vulnerable.
Acetaminophen blood test: A laboratory measurement of acetaminophen concentration in blood, interpreted alongside exposure timing and clinical findings. A timed concentration helps guide treatment, but cannot by itself assess every exposure pattern.

Linked from 10 pages