Use of Charcoal Hemoperfusion and High-Flux Hemodialysis in Carbamazepine Intoxication: Two Case Reports

Carbamazepine (CBZ) is a drug used in the treatment of neurological and psychiatric disorders. Intoxication with CBZ is a serious condition that can result in coma, hemodynamic instability and death. Urgent management of CBZ intoxication is life saving and extracorporeal methods are used for removal of CBZ. It is also known that CBZ is highly protein-bound and charcoal hemoperfusion is the most effective extracorporeal elimination. We know that hemodialysis is also a technique for management of this drug.

We present two cases of CBZ intoxication, treated with two different methods, charcoal hemoperfusion and high-flux hemodialysis. The first patient who was receiving CBZ treatment for anxiety disorder was admitted to Bakırköy Dr. Sadi Konuk Educational and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey on 11th of December 2017, with complaints of dizziness and blurred vision. Vital signs were stable. Laboratory tests were normal. Serum CBZ level was 56 μg/mL (reference 4 - 12 μg/mL). The CBZ level was 15.6 μg/mL after charcoal hemoperfusion for 3 hours. The second patient was admitted to the emergency room on the 5th of February 2015, with blurred consciousness. The patient had taken CBZ for suicide. The CBZ level was 33 μg/mL and was 14.86 μg/mL after hemodialysis with high-flux membrane for 4 hours. Serum CBZ level decreased by 73% in the first patient who received charcoal hemoperfusion and by 55% in the second patient who received high-flux hemodialysis.

In presenting these cases, we aimed to show the decrease of CBZ serum levels by using two different hemodialysis modalities in CBZ intoxication.