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A Rare Case of Acute Cyanide Poisoning from Cyanmethemoglobin Reagent Ingestion


Affiliations
1 Dept. of General Medicine, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research [JIPMER], Dhanvantrinagar, Puducherry, Pondicherry, India
     

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Acute poisoning from cyanides frequently gives rise to lethal toxicity and rapid death. Although many cases of acute cyanide poisoning resulting from inhalation of hydrogen cyanide and ingestion of inorganic cyanide salts have been reported, acute poisoning resulting from ingestion of cyanmethemoglobin reagent (also called Drabkin's reagent, contains potassium cyanide) has most probably not been reported so far. Here we report a rare case of acute cyanide poisoning in a 30-year-old female laboratory technician resulting from deliberate ingestion of commercially available, ready to use liquid cyanmethemoglobin reagent used for colorimetric determination of hemoglobin in blood. She made an uneventful recovery with treatment.

Keywords

Acute Poisoning, Cyanides, Drabkin’s Reagent, Cytochrome Oxidase.
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  • A Rare Case of Acute Cyanide Poisoning from Cyanmethemoglobin Reagent Ingestion

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Authors

Kolar Vishwanath Vinod
Dept. of General Medicine, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research [JIPMER], Dhanvantrinagar, Puducherry, Pondicherry, India
Kalyappan Anupriya
Dept. of General Medicine, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research [JIPMER], Dhanvantrinagar, Puducherry, Pondicherry, India
M. Vivekanandan
Dept. of General Medicine, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research [JIPMER], Dhanvantrinagar, Puducherry, Pondicherry, India

Abstract


Acute poisoning from cyanides frequently gives rise to lethal toxicity and rapid death. Although many cases of acute cyanide poisoning resulting from inhalation of hydrogen cyanide and ingestion of inorganic cyanide salts have been reported, acute poisoning resulting from ingestion of cyanmethemoglobin reagent (also called Drabkin's reagent, contains potassium cyanide) has most probably not been reported so far. Here we report a rare case of acute cyanide poisoning in a 30-year-old female laboratory technician resulting from deliberate ingestion of commercially available, ready to use liquid cyanmethemoglobin reagent used for colorimetric determination of hemoglobin in blood. She made an uneventful recovery with treatment.

Keywords


Acute Poisoning, Cyanides, Drabkin’s Reagent, Cytochrome Oxidase.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.22506/ti%2F2016%2Fv23%2Fi3%2F146729