Specific Antidote
Definition
An agent that acts on the poison's mechanism, not just on its symptoms. Naloxone for opioids, NAC for paracetamol, methylene blue for methaemoglobinaemia. Activated charcoal and supportive care are not specific antidotes.
- Field
- Clinical and forensic toxicology
- Example: opioids
- Naloxone
- Example: paracetamol
- N-acetylcysteine (NAC)
- Example: methaemoglobinaemia
- Methylene blue
- Excludes
- Activated charcoal, supportive care (non-specific)
Common questions
What separates a specific antidote from general supportive treatment?+
A specific antidote counteracts the poison's actual mechanism, such as naloxone displacing opioids from receptors, while supportive care such as fluids or airway management only manages symptoms without reversing the underlying toxic process.
Does giving a specific antidote confirm the identity of the poison in retrospect?+
A clinical response to an antidote is suggestive but not conclusive, since some conditions can mimic a poisoning's presentation, so laboratory confirmation is still needed to establish the toxin forensically.
Related terms
- Antidote
- A substance that counteracts a poison by competitive receptor block, enzymatic reactivation, chelation, immune binding or substrate replacement. Antidotes are class-specific, not...
- Atropinisation
- The clinical end point of titrated atropine therapy in cholinergic poisoning: drying of pulmonary secretions, clearing of crepitations, heart rate above 80,...
- DUMBBELS
- Mnemonic for the muscarinic side of the cholinergic toxidrome: Diarrhoea, Urination, Miosis, Bronchospasm and Bronchorrhoea, Bradycardia, Emesis, Lacrimation, Salivation.
- Oxime Reactivation
- Restoration of acetylcholinesterase function by pralidoxime (2-PAM) or obidoxime through cleavage of the organophosphate-enzyme bond, effective only before the enzyme is irreversibly...
- Toxidrome
- A reproducible cluster of clinical findings (vital signs, pupil size, skin, bowel and bladder, mental status) that identifies a class of poison...