Phenytoin and Multidose Activated Charcoal

• Status: Completed
• Trial end date: 2012-01-01
• Target enrollment: 0
• Participant gender: All

Summary

Phenytoin is a medicine used to treat seizures. If too much is taken, patients have ill effects including sleepiness, unsteady gait, and eye problems. The amount of drug in their system can be measured in their blood. Charcoal is a medicine that can absorb phenytoin. We want to see if giving multiple doses of charcoal will quicken the removal of phenytoin from the blood. This is theorized to occur as charcoal absorbs phenytoin from across the intestines and then is secreted in the stool. Patients will be selected to receive either charcoal in multiple doses or no charcoal and their serum levels will be drawn repeatedly to follow their level. The different groups will then be compared to see if multidose charcoal does indeed increase the elimination of phenytoin from the body.

• Phase: N/A
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers?: No

Details

• Lead Sponsor: Emory University
• Treatments: Charcoal; Phenytoin

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

• Phenytoin level > 30 mg/L

Exclusion Criteria:

• Age < 18

• Known allergy to Activated Charcoal

• Pregnant

• Inability to take PO drugs

• Non English speaking

• Inability to give consent

• Any prisoners