AMERICAN MISTLETOE EXPOSURES

American mistletoe is generally considered to be extremely toxic, Alth ough there are no data to support this contention, both the lay public and medical professionals often respond very aggressively after inges tion of any portion of this plant, To determine if American mistletoe is deserving of this reputation, the outcomes of 1,754 exposures to th is plant were examined, All mistletoe data extracted from the American Association of Poison Control Centers national data collection system for the period of 1985 to 1992 were analyzed according to patient age , gastrointestinal decontamination therapy, patient outcome, and geo g raphic region of the exposure, Pediatric exposures accounted for 92.1% of the cases, and 94.7% of the reported cases were accidental exposur es, Of all cases, 99.2% had an outcome associated with no morbidity, a nd there were no fatalities, Apparently, patient outcome was not influ enced by the use of gastrointestinal decontamination techniques-96.2% of treated patients remained asymptomatic versus 96.3% of patients who received no therapy, The accidental ingestion of American mistletoe i s not associated with profound toxicity. (Am J Emerg Med 1997;15:516-5 20. Copyright (C) 1997 by W.B. Saunders Company).