Published Mar 15, 2011
Southern Magnolia
446 Posts
I'm thinking this is a typo in my pathophysiology book but just want opinions. I am not in nursing school yet. I'm taking path online from a community college and will transfer it into my BSN program in the fall. This is one of those "Here's your book-take a weekly quiz and teach yourself" kind of classes.
So here is the sentence, "Hydrogen sulfide (sewer gas) is a chemical asphyxiant in which victims of hydrogen cyanide poisoning may have brown-tinged blood in addition to the nonspecific signs of asphyxiation.".
So this sentence just doesn't make sense to me. It seems like "of hydrogen cyanide poisoning" doesn't belong in the sentence. The earlier sentences in the paragraph address other chemical asphyxiants like carbon monoxide and then address cyanide and the final sentence of the paragraph is the one I shared above. I can't seem to find any mention anywhere of hydrogen cyanide poisoning or hydrogen sulfide poisoning causing brown-tinged blood though.
Thank you
DolceVita, ADN, BSN, RN
1,565 Posts
It doesn't belong in the sentence.
You can always check with that book publisher for an errata list.
rocket surgery
137 Posts
I believe hydrogen sulfide will impart a brown color to blood; I think hydrogen cyanide typically causes venous blood to be bright red. I can't for the life of me remember where I read it though.
I just did a Google search and this is the only thing I can find: http://books.google.com/books?id=mgJYAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA535#v=onepage&q&f=false
Look for the passage about "SULPHERETTED HYDROGEN."
Thank you both. I did find the blood thing. Looks like my first thoughts were correct but man that sentence made my head hurt for a few minutes.