11 October 2024
Congratulations to the Director of the Welsh National Poisons Unit Dr Laurence Gray whose paper titled “The role of the United Kingdom National Poisons Information Service (NPIS) in the diagnosis of death according to neurological criteria in poisoned and non-poisoned patients” was successfully published in the Journal of the Intensive Care Society in October 2024.
The paper was a collaboration with Jeanie Worthington and Ian Thomas from North Bristol NHS Trust, Leon Cohen from University Hospital of Wales, and fellow directors of NPIS units in Birmingham, Edinburgh and Newcastle. See a summary of the paper below:
The diagnosis of death by neurological criteria (DNC) requires the exclusion of any clinical effect attributable to xenobiotics. We undertook a retrospective analysis of enquiries to the National Poisons Information Service (NPIS) relating to DNC over a 10-year period. Enquiries were categorised as toxicological, where exposure to a non-therapeutically administered xenobiotic was implicated in the clinical presentation and non-toxicological where exposure to the xenobiotic was not the primary cause of the clinical state. The frequency of enquiry to the NPIS regarding xenobiotics and DNC demonstrates that it remains a valuable source of expert advice.
To read the full paper, please click here.