Neurotoxic disorders and medical management of patients poisoned with organophosphorus pesticides
In this article the neurotoxic disorders appearing in patients poisoned with organophosphorus pesticides (OPs) are reviewed. OPs cause four important neurotoxic effects in humans: the cholinergic syndrome, the intermediate syndrome, organophosphate-induced delayed polyneuropathy and chronic organophosphateinduced neuropsychiatric disorder. Compared to the cholinergic syndrome, that causes millions of cases of poisoning with fatality of more than 15% each year, other disorders involve much smaller number of patients. This article is focused on neurotoxic disorders appearing after acute and chronic exposure to OPs with emphasis on clinical presentation, molecular mechanisms and possibilities of medical treatment.