Treatment of Theophylline Overdose-Reply

Abstract

In Reply.—

In response to Dr Olson and co-workers' letter regarding our CASE REPORT of the woman who survived massive theophylline overdose without hemoperfusion, we find little disagreement. We are not necessarily advocating that theophylline overdose be treated without hemoperfusion or hemodialysis but do present a case in which it was treated safely without those modalities. Contrary to their comment that tests for determination of theophylline levels should be available in all hospitals, this just is not the case throughout the country. In north central Washington, there are numerous small hospitals scattered around a large geographic area that do not have all these studies available. In our hospital, tests for determination of theophylline levels obviously are available, but not on a 24-hour, around-the-clock basis at this time. The point we were making was that in some parts of the country, particularly in the more rural areas, certain laboratory studies may