Case Report J Occup Med 1993

Successful treatment of life-threatening propionitrile exposure with sodium nitrite/sodium thiosulfate followed by hyperbaric oxygen

Scolnick B, Hamel D, Woolf A — J Occup Med, 1993

View Original on PubMed PMID 8331438

Tier 2, Indexed

Automatically imported from PubMed based on relevance criteria.

Summary

What Researchers Did

Researchers documented the cases of two workers who were accidentally exposed to propionitrile fumes, leading to cyanide poisoning.

What They Found

One worker, who was comatose with a blood cyanide level of 5.0 micrograms/ml, regained consciousness after receiving sodium nitrite/sodium thiosulfate and then had continued symptoms treated with hyperbaric oxygen at 2 atmospheres for a total of 4 hours. A second worker, with milder symptoms and a blood cyanide level of 3.5 micrograms/ml, was treated with only sodium nitrite/sodium thiosulfate. The ambient propionitrile concentration at the site was 77.5 mg/m3.

Canadian Relevance

No direct Canadian connection identified.

Study Limitations

As a case report involving only two patients, this study cannot definitively prove the general effectiveness of hyperbaric oxygen for propionitrile poisoning.

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Study Details

Study Type	Case Report
Category	Neurological
Source	Pubmed
PubMed ID	8331438
Year Published	1993
Journal	J Occup Med
MeSH Terms	Adult; Antidotes; Coma; Combined Modality Therapy; Humans; Hyperbaric Oxygenation; Male; Neurologic Examination; Nitriles; Occupational Diseases; Respiratory Insufficiency; Sodium Nitrite; Thiosulfates

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Last reviewed: April 17, 2026 | Reviewed by: Canada Hyperbarics Editorial Team | Editorial process | Research sources | Counts & methodology