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Draft 17

Submitted by dfmiller on Wed, 10/09/2019 - 23:23

Carbon monoxide poisoning occurs when the oxygen bound to hemoglobin within healthy red blood cells becomes replaced with CO. Because of this, the red blood cells are unable to engage in gas transfer with surrounding cells; which can therefore lend to organ and tissue damage. Carbon monoxide poisoning has traditionally been to treat patients with pure O2. A new study however, has introduced a new candidate in CO poisoning treatment. Zazzerzon et al. exploited the ability of light to effectively unbind CO from hemoglobin in an extracorporeal apparatus (1). The use of this light treatment, Zazzerzon et al. saw a doubling in the CO removal rate in rats with healthy lungs when compared to treatment with oxygen alone, and a threefold increase in CO removal rate in rats with damaged lungs versus oxygen treatment (1). This treatment can be ideal for patient care, since carbon monoxide poisoning msut be dealt with swiftly in order to ensure decreased tissue damage. Implementing a treatment that filters out CO faster than existing methods is welcome news.

(1) Zazzeron, L.; Fischbach, A.; Franco, W.; Farinelli, W. A.; Ichinose, F.; Bloch, D. B.; Anderson, R. R.; Zapol, W. M. Phototherapy and Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Facilitate Removal of Carbon Monoxide in Rats. Science Translational Medicine 2019, 11 (513).

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