EVALUATION OF AN ASSAY KIT FOR INTOXICATI ONS WITH BENZODIAZEPINES INEMERGENCY CARE UNITS

Benzodiazepines are mostly used for their antianxiety and sedative eff ects. In recent years, new compounds have been developed with a hypnot ic action. Although marked toxicity is uncommon with the rue of these compounds, the clinician requires a rapid laboratory report in emergen cy and intensive care units in case of self-poisoning. To reduce the i ncidence of false-negative results routinely observed with our enzyme immunoassay kit (Emit tox benzodiazepine), the performance of a new ki t (Emit dauTM benzodiazepine) was evaluated in 57 patients who had tak en an overdose of benzodiazepines. Results were compared with those ob tained by high performance liquid Chromatography (HPLC) using a diode array detector and giving a semi-quantitative result Seventy-four perc ent of the patients studied gave readings above the cut-off value, whi ch was consistent with benzodiazepine intoxication, according to the r esults of the specific HPLC analysis (bromazepam, triazolam, alprazola m and flunitrazepam were clearly identified). No false negatives were obtained in this study with the Emit dauTM benzodiazepine. Finally, HP LC is unsuitable in the emergency setting; the enzyme multiplied immun oassay technique is the most appropriate method used in cases of self- poisoning with benzodiazepines having a low therapeutic index.