OVERDOSAGE OF TRICYCLIC ANTIDEPRESSANTS A REPORT OF TWO DEATHS AND A PROSPECTIVE STUDY OF 24 PATIENTS

Abstract

The sudden death of two patients on the third and fourth days respectively, after an overdosage of tricyclic antidepressants, is described. After these deaths had occurred a prospective study was undertaken, and the results for 24 consecutive cases are reported. Unexplained hyperpyrexia occurred in the case of three patients, convulsions occurred in the case of four patients, while in the case of seven patients, an acute psychosis developed when consciousness was regained. During the prospective study, no patient developed a fatal arrhythmia, and neither rhythm nor conduction disturbances presented a serious problem in their recovery. Included as an addendum is the clinical record of a patient who demonstrated marked disturbance In cardiac conduction and rhythm after tricyclic antidepressant overdosage.