A case of sulfhemoglobinemia and emergency measurement of sulfhemoglobin with an OSM3 CO-oximeter.

We describe a case of sulfhemoglobinemia associated with toxic paint ingestion. Blood gases, oxygen content, and fractional hemoglobin derivatives were assayed with Radiometer 520 and OSM3 instruments. Although the CO-oximeters indicated the presence of sulfhemoglobin (SulfHb), the results were not quantitative. An OSM3 service software program was activated to obtain the actual concentrations of the hemoglobin fractions. Subsequently, we evaluated the performance of the OSM3 service program for the analysis of SulfHb by performing precision studies and comparing OSM3 results with those of an AVL 912 CO-oximeter. Retrospectively, we determined that the patient's specimens contained 6% SulfHb. There was an obvious deviation between standard OSM3 oxyhemoglobin fraction measurements and those obtained by using its service program-the effect of a high SulfHb content.