The Evaluation of Clinical and Laboratory Characteristics of Paint Thinner Poisoning in Children

The present study was planned to draw attention to the need to take and use of organic solvents to determine the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of poisoning because of this substance, and to draw attention to its possible complications. The patients who drank thinner and applied to the pediatric emergency clinic of Selçuk University Faculty of Medicine Hospital were examined in the present study. The age and gender of the patients, date and time of admission to the pediatric emergency department, season of admission, method of admission were evaluated. The 38 cases of thinner intoxication that were presented to the pediatric emergency department of our hospital made up 2.70% of all poisoning cases. The average age of the patients was 48.05±23.48 months and the median value was 42.50 months. A total of 37 (97.4%) of the patients included in the study were poisoned by oral route and only one (2.6%) was found to be poisoned by inhalation. All patients with oral poisoning had accidentally drank the thinner placed in a water bottle. Findings of pneumonia developed in 9 (23.7%) patients during the follow-up of the patients in the ward and emergency observation. There was infiltration in the chest radiography taken in 5 of these patients (13.2%). Pediatric emergency physicians must be aware of lung complications even with oral exposure to thinner. For this reason, the emergence of local pulmonary complications along with possible systemic complications must be closely monitored.