Tourniquet ineffectiveness to reduce the severity of envenoming after Crotalus durissus snake bite in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil

• Published in: Toxicon (Oxford) Vol. 36; no. 5; pp. 805 - 808
• Main Authors: Amaral, Carlos F.S, Campolina, Délio, Dias, Mariana B, Bueno, Cláudio M, Rezende, Nilton A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.05.1998; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Animal poisons toxicology. Antivenoms; Antivenins - therapeutic use; Biological and medical sciences; Brazil; Child; Child, Preschool; Creatine Kinase - blood; Crotalus durissus; Crotoxin - adverse effects; Crotoxin - blood; Female; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Partial Thromboplastin Time; Renal Insufficiency - prevention & control; Respiratory Insufficiency - prevention & control; Snake Bites - therapy; Tourniquets; Toxicology; Tropical medicine; South America; Brazil; America; Tourniquet; Human; Vertebrata; Treatment; Treatment efficiency; Envenomization; Venom; Bite; Animal origin; Reptilia; Ophidia
• ISSN: 0041-0101; 1879-3150
• DOI: 10.1016/S0041-0101(97)00132-3

Clinical and laboratory data from patients who applied a tourniquet (tourniquet group, n=45) and who did not apply it (non-tourniquet group, n=52) after being bitten by Crotalus durissus were compared. The patients were treated with 100–200 ml of Crotalus durissus antivenom. The gender, age, time elapsed between bite and hospital admission, dose of antivenom and the frequency of local paresthesia, myalgia and palpebral ptosis did not differ between the two groups. Plasma creatine kinase enzyme activity and partial thromboplastin time, plasma whole venom and crotoxin concentrations and the frequency of acute renal and respiratory failure and number of deaths also did not differ between both groups. Data from this study show the ineffectiveness of tourniquet applied by patients in the fields to reduce the severity of Crotalus durissus envenoming.