BACKGROUND: NBOMes are a new class of potent hallucinogens widely present in illicit drugs. Little is known about this class of drugs, regarding its detection and clinical manifestations of intoxication.
OBJECTIVE: This study aims to enhance care involving NBOMes by reviewing the literature on their clinical manifestations and laboratorydetection.
METHODS: A systematic review was performed on the clinical manifestations and laboratory tests of NBOMEs ingestion. Embase, Pubmed, PsycINFO, and Cochrane databases were employed in this analysis.
RESULTS: Forty-five articles met the inclusion criteria out of the 2814 nonduplicated studies on the theme. Seventy case reports of intoxication were found in the analyzed articles (64.3% were men and 11.4% were women, mean age of 22.5). The technique most employed for NBOMes identification was chromatography of blood, urine, and oral fluids. Moreover, the studies identified 13 chemical structures differentfrom the NBOMes on their toxicological analyses.According to these studies, most of these drugs were ingested orally-nasal use was the second preferred administration route, followed by intravenous administration.
CONCLUSION: Better identification of the clinicalmanifestations and laboratory profile of NBOMes is crucial to the recognition of intoxication as well as to its effective treatment.