J Korean Soc Clin Toxicol.  2015 Dec;13(2):78-86.

A Clinical Analysis of Patients Who Visited Emergency Department due to Chemical Incident Occurred at Industrial Place: A Retrospective Study

• Shin HJ
• Oh SK
• Yoo BD
• Jun DH
• Lee DH
• Woo KH
• Yoon SY
• Choi SY

Abstract

PURPOSE
The purpose of this study is to understand what kinds of chemical substances have been used annually and to investigate incidents that occurred due to chemical hazard release and to analyze statistically clinically chemical injury patients who visited one regional emergency medical center in Gumi city with documented references review.
METHODS
Annual chemical waste emission quantity (Kg/Year) (Cwep) was reproduced using national web site data governed by the Ministry of Environment and 5 years (from 1 .Jan. 2010 to 31. Dec. 2014) of medical records of chemical injury patients who visited our emergency department were reviewed retrospectively. By applying exclusion criteria, 446 patients of 460 patients were selected.
RESULTS
Dichloromethane, Toluene, Trichloroethylene, and Xylene were always included within Top 5 of Cweq. Six cases of chemical incidents were reported and in 3 of 6 cases involving Hydrogen fluoride were included during the study period. Male gender and twenties were the most prevalent group. Injury evoking chemicals were Hydrogen fluoride, unknown, complex chemicals (over 2 substances) in sequence. The most frequent site of wounds and injuries was the respiratory tract. Gas among status, intoxication among diagnosis, and discharge among disposition was most numerous in each group.
CONCLUSION
There have been no uniform clinical protocols for chemical wounds and injuries due to various kinds of chemicophysical properties and ignorance of antidotes. Therefore conduct of a multicenter cohort study and experiments for ruling out chemicals according to chemicophysical priority as well as development of antidotes and clinical protocols for chemical injury patients is needed.

Keyword

Chemical hazard release; Wounds and injuries; Antidotes; Clinical protocols

MeSH Terms

Antidotes
Chemical Hazard Release*
Clinical Protocols
Cohort Studies
Diagnosis
Emergencies*
Emergency Service, Hospital*
Gyeongsangbuk-do
Humans
Hydrofluoric Acid
Male
Medical Records
Methylene Chloride
Respiratory System
Retrospective Studies*
Toluene
Trichloroethylene
Wounds and Injuries
Xylenes
Antidotes
Hydrofluoric Acid
Methylene Chloride
Toluene
Trichloroethylene
Xylenes