Isobutyl-nitrite-induced methemoglobinemia; treatment with an exchange blood transfusion during hyperbaric oxygenation.

A young man was accidentally intoxicated with isobutyl nitrite by a threefold lethal dose. Due to nitrites' ability to change hemoglobine into methemoglobine the patient showed signs of severe hypoxia, which could not be treated by conventional means. Therefore the patient was rapidly transferred to a hyperbaric chamber. The patient was treated with pure oxygen at 283 kPa under which a blood exchange transfusion was performed. The patient fully recovered.