Letter
Carboxyhemoglobin levels in medical intensive care patients
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* Corresponding author: Matthew E Cove mattecove@googlemail.com
Department of Critical Care Medicine, 606 Scaife Hall, 3550 Terrace Street, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA
Critical Care 2012, 16:411 doi:10.1186/cc11163
See related research by Fazekas et al., http://ccforum.com/content/16/1/R6
Published: 16 February 2012First paragraph (this article has no abstract)
We read with interest the study by Fazekas and colleagues demonstrating that lower levels of carboxyhemoglobin are associated with increased mortality in critically ill patients [1]. This observation is of interest since prior studies have shown that carbon monoxide (CO), the silent killer, may actually have therapeutic applications. CO suppresses inflammation and apoptosis, reduces pulmonary hypertension and potentially protects against multiple organ injury in animal models [2]. The fact that average carboxyhemoglobin levels are slightly lower in ICU nonsurvivors compared with survivors (1.5% vs. 1.6%, P = 0.003) supports the findings of animal studies.