The Effectiveness of Antivenin in Treating Snake Bites Resulting in Minimal Clinical Symptoms

Han,  Sang Kyoon; Kim,  In Soo; Ryu,  Seung; Lee,  Jin Woong; Kim,  Seung Whan; Yoo,  In Sool; You,  Yeon Ho; Park,  Jeong Su; Min,  Moon Gi

J Korean Soc Emerg Med > Volume 18(6); 2007 > Article

Original Article

Journal of The Korean Society of Emergency Medicine 2007;18(6): 577-583.

The Effectiveness of Antivenin in Treating Snake Bites Resulting in Minimal Clinical Symptoms

Sang Kyoon Han, In Soo Kim, Seung Ryu, Jin Woong Lee, Seung Whan Kim, In Sool Yoo, Yeon Ho You, Jeong Su Park, Moon Gi Min

¹Department of Emergency Medicine, Chungnam National University College of Medicine, Korea. emfire@cnuh.co.kr
²Emergency Medical Information Center, in Daejeon, Korea.
³Cheonan Medical Center, Korea.
⁴Chungnam Seosan Medical Center, Korea.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE:
Serious complications from snake bite envenomization are relatively rare in Korea. According to standrad treatment guidelines for local and systemic injuries, antivenin is not recommended for snake bite cases when victims show minimal clinical symptoms. However, there are no published stidies about the effectiveness of antivenin treatment in such cases in Korea. In order to provide actual documentation to support a standard for treatment, we evaluated the effectiveness of antivenin use by comparing clinical outcomes in snake bite patients exhibiting minimal clinical symptoms (traditional snake bite severity grades 0 and I).
METHODS:
We retrospectively reviewed 140 snake bite cases of patients with minimal clinical symptoms who visited the emergency departments of Chungnam National University Hospital, Cheonan Medical Center, and Chungnam Seosan Medical Center in Korea from January 2000 to December 2006. We categorized the patients into antivenin (group 1) and non-antivenin (group 2) treatment groups. We compared clinical outcomes and characteristics of the two groups.
RESULTS:
Neither demographic factors nor clinical outcomes showed statistical significance between the groups.
CONCLUSION:
In case of snake bite victims in Korea, antivenin treatment should not generally recommended as treatment for victims exhibiting minimlal clinical symptoms.

Key words: Snake bites, Antivenins, Treatment outcome