Abstract

Background: Toxicity is ability of chemicals to cause harm. One of the principles of dealing to poisoned patients is bowel decontamination via using laxatives or purgatives to wash out poison‐activated charcoal complex quickly. This study aimed to determine gastrointestinal transit time fallowing administration of magnesium hydroxide, lactulose and polyethylene glycol in poisoned patients referred to emergency ward of Noor hospital, Isfahan, Iran, in 2015. Methods: 140 patients were randomly divided into four equal groups of magnesium hydroxide (30 ml with 2‐4 glass of water every 1 hour), lactulose (30 ml with 2‐4 glass of water every 1 hour), polyethylene glycol (70 g with 1 liter water every 20 minutes) and activated charcoal with water. In all patients, the time of taking the first dose of laxatives until to defecation were obtained. The results were compared to each other using SPSS software. Findings: There were no significant differences in term of age, sex and toxicant types. The mean time between the first dose of laxative until to defecation was significantly different between the 4 groups (P < 0.001). Conclusion: Between the 3 studied laxatives, polyethylene glycol and then, magnesium hydroxide were more efficient in decreasing mean transit time. The difference in mean transit time between the 3 laxatives was not significant; but, in comparison to activated charcoal with water, the laxatives showed significant difference which was remarkable. © 2016, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences(IUMS). All rights reserved.