Acute & emergency · UKMLA & AKT
Paracetamol overdose
A free high-yield preview for the UKMLA Applied Knowledge Test, covering how to recognise this condition. The full SA Note notes add investigations, management and complications, with practice questions on this topic.
Key high-yield points
- Overdose saturates glucuronidation/sulphation → more paracetamol shunted via CYP2E1 → excess NAPQI overwhelms hepatic glutathione → covalent binding to hepatocytes → centrilobular necrosis
- N-acetylcysteine (NAC) works as a glutathione precursor - most effective before glutathione is fully depleted
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