Case Report
Phencyclidine Induced Oculogyric Crisis Responding
Well to Conventional Treatment
Hassan Tahir and Vistasp Daruwalla
Department of Internal Medicine, Temple University/Conemaugh Memorial Hospital, 1086 Franklin Street, Johnstown, PA 15905, USA
Correspondence should be addressed to Hassan Tahir; htahir@conemaugh.org
Received 3 March 2015; Revised 10 May 2015; Accepted 18 May 2015
Academic Editor: Oludayo A. Sowande
Copyright © 2015 H. Tahir and V. Daruwalla. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly
cited.
Background. Oculogyric crisis is a form of acute dystonic reaction characterized by involuntary upward deviation of eye ball. Its
causes are broad with antipsychotics and antiemetics as the most common causes. Case Presentation. A 25-year-old man with the
past medical history of marijuana use presented to ED with involuntary upward deviation of eye 1 day afer using phencyclidine
(PCP) for the frst time. He did not have any other symptoms and was hemodynamically stable. All laboratory investigations were
normal except urine drug screen which was positive for PCP. Patient was treated with IV diphenhydramine which improved his
symptoms. Conclusion. Illicit drug abuse is a growing problem in our society with increasingly more patients presenting to ED with
its complications. Te diferential diagnosis of acute dystonic reactions should be extended to include illicit drugs as the potential
cause of reversible acute dystonias especially in high risk patients.
1. Introduction
Dystonia is a movement disorder characterized by sustained
or intermittent muscle contractions causing abnormal, ofen
repetitive, movements, postures, or both. Dystonic move-
ments are typically patterned, twisting, and may be tremu-
lous. Dystonia is ofen initiated or worsened by voluntary
action and associated with overfow muscle activation [1].
Drug induced acute dystonia (DID) is one of the commonest
forms of secondary dystonia, along with tardive dystonia.
Tis complication occurs in wide frequency range, depending
on the specifc drugs prescribed, indications, and studied
populations [2]. Clinical presentation commonly includes
craniocervical distribution with blepharospasm, buccolin-
gual, mandibular, face and neck dystonia, and oculogyric
crisis with contracture of the extraocular muscles leading to
conjugate eyes deviation, usually with a predominance of the
superior rectus muscle and consequent upward eye deviation
[3]. Drug abuse is a rising problem in our society with increas-
ing number of drug abusers being brought to the emergency
department because of its complications. Hallucinogens are
a class of illicit drugs that cause profound distortion in
person’s sense of reality. Phencyclidine (PCP), also known as
angel dust, is the most dangerous of all hallucinogens due
to its efect on behaviour. Unfortunately, there has been a
recent increase in the number of emergency visits involving
PCP [4]. Rare manifestations and complications of PCP are
increasingly seen due to the rising burden of its use [5].
We report a case of 25-year-old man who developed acute
oculogyric crisis afer using PCP for the frst time.
2. Case Presentation
A 25-year-old man presented to emergency department with
involuntary sustained upward deviation of eyes for one day.
According to the patient, he had been using marijuana
almost once in a week for the last 5 years but this time he
wanted to try a diferent drug. One day ago, he smoked
angel dust with tobacco and also snorted it a little. Tis
was the frst time he was using PCP and as per the patient
he used very small quantity. Afer that he felt dizzy and
slept whole night. When patient woke up in the morning,
he had both of his eyes involuntary deviated in upward
direction. His girlfriend immediately brought him to ED for
further evaluation. Te patient denied any fever, headache,
light headedness, slurred speech, weakness, diplopia, and
auditory or visual hallucinations. Patient did not have any
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Case Reports in Emergency Medicine
Volume 2015, Article ID 506301, 3 pages
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/506301