TI: Intravenous Hydrogen Peroxide Infusion as a Means of
Extrapulmonary Oxygenation
DT: 1967
AU: R.L. Fuson, J.A. Kylstra, P. Hochstein, H.A. Saltzman
SO: Clinical Research, Vol. 15, 1967, P 74
AB: The intravenous infusion of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) merits
study as a technique for oxygenating blood since one volume
of 3% H2O2 solution upon decomposition will liberate 10
volumes of nascent oxygen. For this reason 3% H2O2 in
normal saline was infused at a controlled rate into the
right ventricle of 12 pigs whose blood catalase activity was
only slightly less than in man. The rate of infusion was
limited by bubble formation leading to pulmonary and
systemic embolization. Increased ambient pressures up to
four atmospheres absolute (ATA) in four animals failed to
protect from these complications. In eight pigs studied at
one ATA, oxygen consumption (VO2) averaged 10 to 12
cc/kg/min, or approximately three times the rate previously
reported. Up to 20% of the animal’s oxygen consumption
could be supplied by intravenous H2O2 without circulatory
and respiratory collapse due to formation of bubbles. Three
of the eight pigs receiving 20% of their VO2 from infused
H2O2 for one hour survived and recovered. All pigs
developed severe methemoglobinemia, unresponsive to the
infusion of methylene blue. Curiously, blood from the same
pigs mixed in vitro with H2O2 did not form methemoglobin.
These experiments suggest that the infusion of H2O2 is a
hazardous technique suitable for extrapulmonary blood
oxygenation to a limited extent only.
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