Objectives: The objective of this paper is to document the profile and incidence of suspected acute methanol poisoning in a series of 83 patients presented at East Avenue Medical Center on December 23-24, 2019 and to correlate their laboratories to the severity of their symptoms.

 

Results: 67% of patients were initially tagged as green, 32% yellow patients and 1% red patient. 63 out of 83 patients were discharged with no signs and symptwhile 20 patients were admitted due to metabolic acidosis and signs and symptoms of methanol poisoning. One patient had undergone hemodialysis.  Mean capillary blood glucose of patients was 100 mg/dL with initial blood gas mean ph of 7.270 and mean bicarbonate  of 16 mmol/L. Acute kidney injury was noted in 44.6% of patients and  hyperkalemia in 10% of patients. Most common symptoms were abdominal pain, blurring of vision, chest pain, dizziness and vomiting. Methanol level from lambanog samples tested ranges from 11-18%. 

 

Discussion:  This paper emphasizes the importance of early recognition in the prehospital setting of suspected methanol poisoning to prioritize transfer of patients to the appropriate facilities. Frequent reassessment is critical because methanol can present with delayed complications which can be life-threatening.