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Delirium from nicotine withdrawal in neuro-ICU patients
S A Mayer1, J Y Chong, E Ridgway
1Division of Critical Care Neurology, Department of Neurology, Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center and College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, New York, NY, USA. sam14@columbia.edu
Neurology
|August 15, 2001
Abstract:
Five cases of presumed nicotine withdrawal delirium among brain-injured patients treated in a neurologic intensive care unit are presented. Each patient had a history of heavy tobacco use and experienced dramatic and sustained clinical improvement within hours of transdermal nicotine replacement. These preliminary observations suggest that nicotine withdrawal may be an under-recognized cause of delirium in patients with acute brain injury.