A 17-year-old high school student is brought in to your emergency room in a comatose state. His friends have accompanied him and tell you that they have been shooting up heroin tonight and they think their friend may have had too much. The patient is unconscious and cannot protect his airway, so he is intubated. His heart rate is 60 and he is breathing through the ventilator. He is not posturing and he does not respond to a sternal rub. Preparing to finish the neurologic examination, you get a penlight. What size pupils do you expect to see in this comatose patient?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Narcotics and cholinergics cause very small (1 mm) pupils. Reactions to light can be appreciated with a magnifying glass.

A 17-Year-Old High School Student Is Brought in to Your