Abstract

MARTINEZ CABRERA, Jesús  and  VELAZQUEZ OGANDO, Raúl. Intoxicación por sustancias metahemoglobinizantes: Estudio retrospectivo de 39 pacientes. Rev cubana med [online]. 1998, vol.37, n.2, pp. 77-82. ISSN 1561-302X.

In order to characterize the poisonings caused by methahemoglobin-forming substances from the etiological, clinical and therapeutic points of view, a retrospective study of 39 patients discharged from the National Toxicology Center from 1988 to 1995 with this diagnosis was conducted. It was found that nitrites in form of salts were the main cause of paisoning (71.05 %). Symptoms generally appeared during the first hour. Cyanosis was observed in 97.37 % of the patients. Methahemoglobin figures were not associated with the magnitude or severity of poisoning. Treatment with vitamin C was not efficient to reduce the methahemoglobin figures. However, it was possible to diminish the values under 2 % in those cases treated with methylene blue. There were no complications and hospital stay was of 48 hours as an average.

Keywords : METHAHEMOGLOBIN [poisoning]; METHAHEMOGLOBIN [analysis]; METHYLENE BLUE [therapeutic use]; ASCORBIC ACID [therapeutic use].

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )