PROVIDENCE, R.I., Jan. 29 (UPI) -- Carbon monoxide causes direct damage to the heart muscle, separate from the effects of oxygen deprivation, a U.S. study finds.
Lead author Dr. Selim Suner, director of emergency preparedness and disaster medicine at Rhode Island Hospital in Providence, R.I., says a lack of oxygen reduces the heart's pumping capacity and permanently impairs cardiac function.
The study, published in Academic Emergency Medicine, suggests heart damage caused by carbon monoxide may have long-lasting effects even after its been eliminated from the blood, making the diagnosis of carbon monoxide poisoning even more critical.
Suner and colleagues examined an animal model in which blood and other systemic factors were eliminated in order to determine the direct effects of carbon monoxide on cardiac function.
The study is the first to show that carbon monoxide's effect on heart muscle is unrelated to oxygen deprivation in the recovery phase, even when all carbon monoxide is out of the system, Suner says.
Known as the "invisible killer," carbon monoxide exposure is responsible for an estimated 500 unintentional U.S. deaths annually.
