By Myles Starr
Data from a study of a medical center in Pennsylvania indicate that a standardized protocol for treating alcohol withdrawal syndrome (AWS) using early-admission phenobarbital and symptom-driven lorazepam could help reduce mortality rates by nearly 20% compared with non-standardized treatment modalities.
The retrospective study included 283 adult medical and surgical patients with AWS admitted to the ICU at Geisinger Community Medical Center, in Scranton, Pa. The analysis excluded