Tricyclic antidepressant overdoses in adolescent patients.

Tricyclic antidepressant plasma levels were measured in nine hospitalized adolescent oversdose patients to define the medical seriousness of the drug ingestion. Seven out of nine of these patients ingested medication prescribed for treatment of their psychiatric symptoms. Indications for tricyclic therapy in adolescents are vague. The more frequent use of these drugs makes the potential for life-threatening ingestions relatively common. The amount of drug ingested is usually poorly documented. Plasma measurements are of value in assessing the efficacy of the various medical treatments of overdose patients. Two of these nine overdoses were medically serious as defined by plasma measurements. Supportive care with cardiac monitoring was adequate in one case; however, a fatality occurred in the other under what could be described as optimal patient management conditions.