Case series: anxiety and agitation following exposure to the synthetic cannabinoid ADB-PINACA

3 out of 5 stars A Common Source Outbreak of Severe Delirium Associated with Exposure to the Novel Synthetic Cannabinoid ADB-PINACA. Schwartz MD et al. J Emerg Med 2015 May;48:573-80. Abstract As noted in a recent survey of synthetic cannabinoid exposures in the New England Journal of Medicine, the synthetic cannabinoid (SC) ADB-PINACA was associated with outbreaks in August and September 2013, both in Brunswick GA (22 cases) and Denver CO (> 220 exposures). This paper reports on 7 cases from the outbreak in Georgia. All patients tested positive for ADB-PINACA or its metabolic ADB-PINACA-5-Pentoic Acid in plasma and/or serum. All patients were agitated and/or anxious. Three patients needed to be intubated for control of these symptoms. One patient, a 30-year-old man,  suffered cardiac arrest but was resuscitated — in this patient, electrocardiogram showed an anterior STEMI. Cardiac catheterization showed total LAD occlusion that was treated with balloon angioplasty. An additional patient experienced seizure activity :several days” after smoking a synthetic cannabinoid. Drug tests were not available, and because of the time interval between reported exposure and seizures, I was not convinced there was a clear connection. Unfortunately, including this case was confusion and impaired the clarity of the paper. In one additional case, a 49-year-old DEA agent developed anxiety, chest discomfort, and irritability 1 day after handling a confiscated SC product. He ha...
Source: The Poison Review - Category: Toxicology Authors: Tags: Medical ADB-PINACA agitation anxiety black mamba case series crazy clown delirium synthetic cannabinoid Source Type: news