Methanol mass poisoning occurs across the world quite frequently, but the complete clinical and laboratory data of the patients are only rarely available. Approximately 138 cases of poisoning were documented in the Czech Republic, 107 patients were hospitalized. Another 31 persons died out of hospital. About 60 % of the hospitalized patients survived intoxication without consequences, one half of the remaining 40 % died and the other half survived with the CNS and/or sight impaired. The Czech study successfully used modern diagnostic methods. A positive effect of the prehospital first aid with an oral antidote has been proven and a comparable effect of ethanol and fomepizole has been reached during hospital therapy. Higher efficiency of intermittent therapy has been determined as compared to continual hemodialysis. No connection was found between cerebral hemorrhage and systemic anticoagulation during hemodialysis. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed brain lesions in more than 50 % of the examined persons. During the follow-up visits over months and years improvement regarding the damage to the optic nerve was found in patients with a lesion of mild to medium degree. Isolated cases of poisoning still occur.
Key words: antidote - long-term follow-up - hemodialysis - methanol - methanol intoxication - CNS damage - vision impairment.