Rhabdomyolysis Syndrome in Alcohol, Psychotropic Drugs, and Illicit Substance Poisonings

Rhabdomyolysis is one of the major complications of poisoning caused by alcohol, narcotics, and psychotropic substances acute toxicity, which might lead to acute renal failure and even death. This study aimed to evaluate clinical and laboratory findings of rhabdomyolysis syndrome in poisoning patients who were admitted to poisoning ward of Farshchian Hospital of Hamadan, Iran. In this cross-sectional study, patients with acute toxicity by alcohol, narcotics, or psychotropic drugs who were admitted in poisoning ward of Farshchian Hospital of Hamadan were investigated during a 6-month period in 2012. Clinical and laboratory data were collected by a standard questionnaire and analyzed by the SPSS software version 16. Eighty-two patients aged between 14 to 81 years were investigated. Twenty-two cases developed rhabdomyolysis and narcotics related toxicity was the most common cause. The most common clinical symptom in all patients was muscle pain (51cases, Laboratory studies showed some significant differences between serum creatine kinase (CK), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), serum creatinine, and aminotransferases (AST,ALT) levels in rhabdomyolysis cases as compared to the others (p<0.05). The results of this study revealed that the incidence of rhabdomyolysis syndrome in acute intoxication with alcohol and narcotics is significant and without proper treatment might cause serious complications such as acute renal failure and even death. Classic clinical signs and symptoms of rhabdomyolysis are usually not present simultaneously, thus strong clinical suspicion and proper laboratory tests have important role in early diagnosis and suitable treatment. Laboratory studies have an important role in the diagnosis of this syndrome.