WHEN I USE A WORD..

Ae, ae, ae!

A young man came in 12 hours after taking 100 paracetamol tablets. We gave him acetylcysteine. He had no major symptoms or signs, but there were a few petechiae over the shoulders and his platelet count was 9x10⁹/l. I searched Medline: thrombocytopenia in paracetamol overdose does occur and is a poor prognostic sign (Am J Hematol 1994;45:258-9). Of course, I didn't look for just <paracetamol> AND <thrombocytopenia>, but for <paracetamol OR acetaminophen> AND <thrombocytopenia OR thrombocytopaenia>. It is always important, when searching, to remember that drugs may have alternative names—but how often do you …