Two Cases of Methemoglobinemia Induced by the Exposure to Nitrobenzene and Aniline

Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine

Chang Hwan Lee¹  Soo Hyeon Kim¹  Do Hyung Kwon¹  Keun Ho Jang¹  Yong Hoon Chung²  Jai Dong Moon¹ 

[1] Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Chonnam National University Hwasun Hospital, Hwasun, Korea

[2] Department of Emergency Medicine, Chonnam National University Hospital, Gwangju, Korea

关键词: Methemoglobinemia;    Aniline;    Nitrobenzene;   

Others  :  790816
DOI  :  10.1186/2052-4374-25-31

 received in 2013-09-27, accepted in 2013-10-18,  发布年份 2013

【 摘 要 】

Objective

To report two cases of methemoglobinemia induced by inhaled nitrobenzene and dermally absorbed aniline.

Methods

We have evaluated a 37-year-old male worker exposed to nitrobenzene by inhalation while conducting maintenance job of mononitrobenzene pump and a 25-year-old male worker exposed dermally to aniline while unloading.

Results

The first case is a 37-year-old male exposed to nitrobenzene. His blood methemoglobin concentration level was initially 19.8%, and chest X-ray was normal. After oxygen therapy, the blood methemoglobin concentration level decreased to 2.1%, and the symptoms were alleviated. The second case is a 25-year-old male exposed dermally to aniline. His chest X-ray was normal, but blood methemoglobin concentration level reached maximally 46.8%. He was treated with methylene blue due to relatively high blood methemoglobin level. Gradually after the treatment, his methemoglobin concentration level was normalized to 0.8% and simultaneously symptoms were resolved.

Conclusions

After the thorough exposure investigations and medical evaluations, we have concluded that these cases were methemoglobinemia induced by occupational exposure to nitrobenzene and aniline. We suggest that businesses which handle methemoglobinemia-causing substances control the engineering process strictly, implement periodic screening, and establish emergency patient management system.

【 授权许可】

   
2013 Lee et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

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