Title: Antivenin Only for North American Crotalinae Snake Envenomation<br/>Author: Bryan Hayes<br/><a href='http://umem.org/profiles/faculty/369/'>[Click to email author]</a><hr/><p>
C<span style="line-height: 17px;">urrent evidence does <u>not</u> support the use of fasciotomy or dermotomy following North American Crotalinae envenomation with elevated intracompartmental pressures. [1]</span></p>
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A new case report of a 17-month old bitten by a copperhead snake reinforces that <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">early and adequate administration of crotaline Fab antivenin is the treatment of choice. [2]</span></p>
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<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">Many experts recommend against measuring compartement pressures altogether; we know it will be elevated.</span></p>
<fieldset><legend>References</legend>
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<li>
Cumpston KL. Is there a role for fasciotomy in Crotalinae envenomation in North America? <em>Clin Toxicol </em>2011;49(5):351-65. [<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21740134">PMID 21740134</a>]</li>
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Mazer-Amirshahi M, et al. Elevated compartment pressures from copperhead envenomation succesfully treated with antivenin. <em>J Emerg Med</em> 2014;46(1):34-7. [<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23871482">PMID 23871482</a>]</li>
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