Intravenous lipid emulsions combine extracorporeal blood purification: a novel therapeutic strategy for severe organophosphate poisoning.

Organophosphorus (OP) pesticide self-poisoning is a major clinical problem in rural Asia and it results in the death of 200,000 people every year. At present, it is lack of effective methods to treat severe organophosphate poisoning. The high mortality rate lies on the amount of toxic absorption. Intravenous lipid emulsions can be used as an antidote in fat-soluble drug poisoning. The detoxification mechanism of intravenous lipid emulsions is "lipid sink", which lipid emulsions can dissolve the fat-soluble drugs and separate poison away from the sites of toxicity. Most of organophosphorus pesticides are highly fat-soluble. So, intravenous lipid emulsions have the potentially clinical applications in treatment of OP poisoning. Extracorporeal blood purification especially charcoal hemoperfusion is an efficient way to eliminate the poison contents from the blood. We hypothesize that the combination of intravenous lipid emulsions and charcoal hemoperfusion can be used to cure severe organophosphate poisoning. This novel protocol of therapy comprises two steps: one is obtained intravenous access to infuse lipid emulsions as soon as possible; another is that charcoal hemoperfusion will be used to clear the OP substances before the distribution of OP compounds in tissue is not complete. The advantages of this strategy lie in three points. Firstly, it will alleviate the toxic effect of OP pesticide in the patients by isolation and removal the toxic contents. Secondly, the dosage of antidotes can be reduced and its side-effects will be eased. Thirdly, a large bolus of fatty acids provide energy substrate for the patients who are nil by mouth. We consider that it would become a feasible, safe and efficient detoxification intervention in the alleviation of severe organophosphate poisoning, which would also improve the outcome of the patients.