Methemoglobinemia should be suspected when oxygen saturation apparently decreases after prilocaine infiltration during intravenous sedation

Ryo Wakita; Haruhisa Fukayama

doi:10.1002/ccr3.1522

Methemoglobinemia should be suspected when oxygen saturation apparently decreases after prilocaine infiltration during intravenous sedation

Clin Case Rep. 2018 Apr 17;6(6):1077-1081. doi: 10.1002/ccr3.1522. eCollection 2018 Jun.

Authors

Ryo Wakita¹, Haruhisa Fukayama¹

Affiliation

¹ Section of Anesthesiology and Clinical Physiology Division of Oral Health Sciences Department of Oral Restitution Graduate School Tokyo Medical and Dental University Tokyo Japan.

Abstract

During intravenous sedation, a decrease in SpO2 is usually the result of respiratory failure. However, we experienced a case with SpO2 decrease that was caused by methemoglobinemia in prilocaine infiltration anesthesia during sedation. This indicates that methemoglobinemia should be considered if low SpO2 is sustained unrelated to sedation level.

Keywords: Methemoglobinemia; monitored anesthesia care; prilocaine; pulse oximetry; sedation.

Publication types

Case Reports