title: Alcohol poisoning and venous hyperoxia.
abstract: ABSTRACT Venous PCO(2) and PO(2) in the presence of normal arterial PCO(2) and PO(2) in patients with alcoholic intoxication have not been previously evaluated. The objective of this study was to compare arterial and venous blood gases in patients with alcoholic intoxication and healthy controls. Sixteen patients with alcoholic intoxication and 20 controls underwent simultaneous blood sampling from a radial artery and an antecubital vein for acid-base analysis. Osmolality and ethanol blood concentration was estimated. Elevated venous pO(2) were found in 56% of patients with alcoholic poisoning compared with 15% of controls. A formula was found describing possible arterio-venous shunt accounting for elevated venous pO(2) and enabling calculation of the relevant venous carbon dioxide content and CO(2) product. The values of the venous pO(2) and arterio-venous shunt were more significant in the alcohol group than in controls (p = 0.002, p = 0.001, respectively). Percentage of patients with a-v shunts was significantly higher in the alcohol group (81%) than in controls (25%) (p = 0.002, OR 2.6, 95% CI 0.13-6.52). The relevant venous CO(2) and CO(2) product had the non-significant trend to be higher in the alcohol group. In conclusion, this study reports ethanol-induced venous pO(2) and pCO(2) elevation. This may be associated with the effects of tissue perfusion stealing and high oxygen consumption. On the other hand, possible beneficial consequences may occur: acceleration of alcohol elimination and reduction of alcohol-induced tissue damage.
authors.affiliation: The B. Shine Department of Rheumatology, Rambam Medical Center and B. Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.
authors.forename: Alexander P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Rozin
authors.forename: Judith
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Attias
authors.forename: Dita
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Presser
authors.forename: Helen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rosenberg
authors.forename: Marian
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moscovitz
authors.forename: Yedidia
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Bentur