title: Persistent cyanosis in a 4 month old infant with severe pneumonia and haemoglobin M.
abstract: M haemoglobinaemia is a rare cause of persistant cyanosis. We report a four months old infant who suffered from severe pneumonia and respiratory distress syndrome. After return of normal respiration, cyanosis persisted. Oxygen saturation on pulse oximetry never exceeded 85%. Finally, we succeeded in isolating a haemoglobin M Saskatoon. HbM Saskatoon is normally a harmless variant. However, in conjunction with severe pneumonia, we assume that it did not only affect clinical evaluation, but also exacerbated pneumonia by reducing the oxygen binding capacity.
authors.affiliation: Department for Paediatric and Adolescent Medicine, Section for Neonatology and Conservative Paediatric Intensive Care, Medical Faculty, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany. mhuetten@ukaachen.de
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hütten
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kohne
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Yagmur
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Schaible
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wenzl
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wagner
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Heimann
mesh_terms: D003490:Cyanosis / Q000097:blood / Q000209:etiology* / Q000628:therapy; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006453:Hemoglobinopathies / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000628:therapy; D006455:Hemoglobins, Abnormal / Q000235:genetics*; D006612:High-Frequency Ventilation; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D010092:Oximetry; D011014:Pneumonia / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy; D012127:Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Newborn / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000628:therapy
chemical_list: D006455:Hemoglobins, Abnormal; C028907:hemoglobin Saskatoon