Authors : Ghafar Ali Mahmoudi, Peyman Astaraki , Vahid Almasi , Khadijeh Ghavamnejad and Yadollah Pournia
Abstract: Methanol is a toxic liquid and its taste and appearance are similar to ethanol. Oral intake or skin contact with methanol can cause methanol poisoning. In this cross-sectional study, hospitalized patients with methanol poisoning in the general hospital of Lorestan University of Medical Sciences were evaluated between March and September, 2010. In the expired patients the methanol level of alcoholic beverages and the vitrus and blood sample had been evaluated by gass chromatography. Researchers used mean and standard deviation and the SPSS software, V. 12 for analyzing the collected data. In this time period, 28 patients with methanol poisoning were admitted. The mean age of the patients was 25.21±9.58 years old. In the study span, 3 patients expired in the hospital. At the end of hospitalization span, 4 patients had loss of vision. The methanol levels of blood samples of expired patients were 37, 21.9 and 30.6 mg dL-1. The methanol level of vitrus samples of 2 ones of expired patients were 31.5 and 18.8 mg dL-1. Also, the methanol level of alcoholic beverage was 80 mg dL-1. Although in some literature, the lethal blood methanol level is reported as 80-100 mg dL-1, the minimal lethal level of blood methanol is not known yet. However, the lethal blood methanol levels in the study were lower than the usual amounts. This may due to the delay in admission to the hospital and the clinical status of the patients on admission.
Ghafar Ali Mahmoudi, Peyman Astaraki , Vahid Almasi , Khadijeh Ghavamnejad and Yadollah Pournia , 2011. Methanol Poisoning: Evaluation of 28 Patients in a 6 Months Period. Research Journal of Biological Sciences, 6: 368-370.