Experience with albumin dialysis in five patients with severe overdoses of paracetamol.

Abstract

Five patients in whom the serum paracetamol levels or the amount of ingested paracetamol was high enough to cause severe liver injury were treated with N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC) and a molecular absorbant recirculating system (MARS). MARS treatment was started as early as possible in order to prevent or retard the development of hepatocyte necrosis. Four of our five patients survived without liver transplantation, and one died due to brain oedema. The early commencement with NAC and MARS treatments in paracetamol intoxication might give enough time for the liver to regenerate and thus avoid liver transplantation.