Emergency treatment of petroleum distillate and turpentine ingestion

A comparative study was made of pulmonary complications following the use of ipecac syrup and gastric lavage for hydrocarbon ingestion. The selected 255 patients had chest radiography when first seen and again two to five days later. Of these patients 74 or 29% had been treated with ipecac syrup, 41 or 16% by gastric lavage. On follow-up radiographs 19% of the ipecac-treated group were unchanged or worsened, compared with 39% of the lavage group, suggesting that pneumonitis was significantly less severe in the ipecac-treated patients. Use of ipecac is preferred over gastric lavage for alert patients who have ingested an excessive amount of hydrocarbon.