Protracted deep coma after bromazepam poisoning.

BACKGROUND: Bromazepam intoxication is very common but surprisingly rarely reported. CASE DESCRIPTION: We describe the case of a 73-year-old woman who suffered from a prolonged coma after acute self poisoning with bromazepam (serum concentration of 2,000 ng/ml at admission, 2 - 10 hours after ingestion of up to 180 mg) and zolpidem (900 ng/ml at admission). Only the former lasted at toxic concentrations. Recovery of consciousness allowed extubation on Day 16. Repeat-dose activated charcoal (25 g every 6 h from Day 14 to 16) resulted in minimal effects on bromazepam grossly estimated kinetics. CONCLUSION: Despite its relatively low theoretic half-life, bromazepam may induce a prolonged life-threatening coma, even in the absence of renal or hepatic failure.