GuidelinesOther guideline
Alpha-adrenergic Blockers
Alpha-adrenergic Blockers
Mechanism of toxicity
Toxic dose
Symptoms and signs of poisoning
Management
Symptomatic and supportive
Monitoring
Mechanism of toxicity
Block peripheral alpha-adrenergic receptors and cause vasodilation.
Toxic dose
- Moderate toxicity: occurs at 10 times the therapeutic dose.
- Severe toxicity: uncommon.
Symptoms and signs of poisoning
- Cardiovascular: orthostatic hypotension, bradycardia, reflex tachycardia, severe hypotension (rare).
- Gastrointestinal: nausea and vomiting.
- Central nervous system: convulsions (rare).
- Genito-urinary: priapism.
Management
Note general principles of acute poisoning.
| Intervention | Not effective | Consider | Indicated |
| Gastric lavage | |||
| Early (within 1 hour) post-ingestion activated charcoal | |||
| Multiple dose activated charcoal | |||
| Dialysis | |||
| Charcoal haemoperfusion |
Symptomatic and supportive
- Asymptomatic patients: observed for 6 hours (12 hours if sustained-release formulation).
- Hypotension: IV fluids
Monitoring
- Cardiac monitoring: ECG (torsades de pointes), serum potassium, blood pressure and pulse rate
- Slow release preparation might necessitate longer management and observation