Abstract

The ultimate goal of treatment of carbon monoxide poisoning is to promote dissociation of carboxyhemoglobin and to maintain arterial PO2 above 50mmHg throughout the course of treatment to protect vital organs from damage caused by hypoxia. The hyperbaric chamber designed and manufactured for this has obviously made and enormous contribution and yet has several handicaps to be overcome by any means. These handicaps are: the financial impact to purchase the chamber(especially in a small, remote community), an extra manpower requirement to operate the device, limitation in the capacity of the chamber (one man type), and the possible hazard of oxygen intoxication and dysbarism. The primary objective of this is to develop a new therapeutic measure as an alternative to the hyperbaric chamber when it is not available or contraindicated. The effect of intestinal perfusion with hydrogen peroxide has been studies by many investigators and was known to be an excellent way of extrapulmonary oxygen supply. The advantage of this method will include ; 1) much more amount of oxygen is delivered to the tissue than one would expect from 100% saturation with oxygen at 1 ata, 2) the procedure is simple and most economical, 3) neither sophisticated equipment nor extra manpower is required. As a study preliminary to the clinical application, authors conducted a series of experiment to observe the effect of hydrogen peroxide enema on dissociation of carboxyhemoglobin in intoxicated rabbit blood. Using an animal gas chamber, 20 rabbits were exposed to CO gas of 6,000 ppm for 60 minutes. Ten rabbits of control group were given 10cc of warmed normal saline solution by reactal perfusion and for the other 10 of the experimental group, the same amount of 1% H2O2 solution was given by the same way. Two blood specimens were drawn from each rabbit : the first one immediately following the exposure and the second one after rectal perfusion, about 30 minutes after the first sampling, The result was as following ; 1) The decrease in carboxyhemoglobin concentration during the first 30 minutes in the control and experimental group were 18.88+/-4.49% and 23.03+/-4.13% respectively showing the significant difference(p<0.05) between the two groups. 2) Hemoglobin and hematocrit value showed no significant difference between two groups and not altered significantly by intestinal perfusion with H2O2.