UMEM Educational Pearls

Category: Toxicology

Title: Toxic Alcohols

Keywords: Ethylene glycol, methanol, toxic alcohol (PubMed Search)

Posted: 7/14/2007 by Fermin Barrueto, MD (Emailed: 7/8/2007) (Updated: 3/28/2024)
Click here to contact Fermin Barrueto, MD

Toxic Alcohols Unexplained anion gap metabolic acidosis => give fomepizole (antidote) Hypokalemia, hypocalcemia, elevated creatinine => think ethlylene glycol Visual disturbances => think methanol Ketosis without acidosis and high osmol gap => think isopropanol If osmol gap is >70; high specificity for a toxic alcohol ingestion