BACKGROUND The diffusing capacity of the lungs for carbon monoxide (D(LCO)) is commonly measured during pulmonary function testing (PFT). Although adjustment of the measured D(LCO) for an elevated baseline carboxyhemoglobin level is recommended, carboxyhemoglobin is not routinely measured, which may reduce the accuracy of D(LCO) measurements. We sought to assess the utility of routine carboxyhe...

Exposure to carbon monoxide (CO) and other ambient air pollutants is associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes. While there are several methods of estimating CO exposure, few have been evaluated against exposure biomarkers. The authors examined the relation between estimated CO exposure and blood carboxyhemoglobin concentration in 708 pregnant western Washington State women (1996-2004). Carbox...

INTRODUCTION Heme-Oxygenase-1 catalyzes hemoglobin into bilirubin, iron, and carbon monoxide, a well known vasodilator. Heme-Oxygenase-1 expression and carbon monoxide production as measured by blood carboxyhemoglobin levels, increase in end stage liver disease patients. We hypothesized that there may be a correlation between carboxyhemoglobin level and early graft function in patients undergoi...

We examined the sensitive assay for carboxyhemoglobin based on reaction with K3Fe(CN)6 and gas chromatography of the liberated CO. Our improvements included increased baseline stability, shorter analysis time, and simpler standardization. EDTA-containing Vacutainer Tubes (lavender-stoppered) increase the carboxyhemoglobin content of blood stored in them. The carboxyhemoglobin content of blood s...

OBJECTIVE Direct antibody titer-positive, blood group A or B neonates who are born to group O mothers may be at risk for hemolysis and hyperbilirubinemia. Immunoglobulin G1 and immunoglobulin G3 subclasses are associated with increased hemolysis relative to immunoglobulin G2 and immunoglobulin G4. We investigated whether identification of immunoglobulin G subclass 1 or 3 may be predictive of he...

We compared cotinine, carboxyhemoglobin, and thiocyanate concentrations in blood sampled from 187 cigarette smokers and 181 non-smokers. All three differed significantly between smokers and non-smokers. Cotinine performed best as a test for assessing smoking status, with a sensitivity of 98% as compared with 94% for carboxyhemoglobin and 80% for thiocyanate, all at a specificity of 95%. These d...

We describe spectrophotometric determination of methemoglobin (Met-Hb) in blood by absorbance differences at two wavelengths (characteristic of the instrument used) in the 500-600 nm region. Blood is diluted 100- to 200-fold with a solution containing KCN and carbon monoxide to convert hemoglobin to carboxyhemoglobin and Met-Hb to cyanomethemoglobin (CN-Met-Hb). Carboxyhemoglobin has the same a...