This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Report of Two Cases

WILLOUGHBY LATHEM, M.D.; GERSON T. LESSER, M.D.; WILLIAM J. MESSINGER, M.D.; MORTON GALDSTON, M.D.

AMA Arch Intern Med. 1954;93(4):550-555.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

ANAEROBIC* blood sampling from a peripheral vessel is a useful and often essential procedure in many diagnostic and experimental studies. Stadie¹ originally used mineral oil in the syringe to prevent contact between the blood and air. During the past 10 years the technique of sealing heparinized syringes with metallic mercury has been widely employed. The purpose of the present report is to point out an inherent danger in this technique which has apparently not been appreciated. In two different laboratories peripheral embolism has resulted from the accidental introduction of mercury into the arterial stream during blood sampling when syringes were prepared in the accepted manner.

PREPARATION OF SYRINGES

Two or three drops of metallic mercury were added to 20 cc. heparinized Luer-Lok syringes. Excess mercury was expressed prior to sampling by inverting the syringe and slowly advancing the plunger as far as possible, so that only the nozzle and . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
WEST HAVEN, CONN.; NEW YORK

From the Department of Medicine, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, and tne Presbyterian Hospital and the Research Service, New York University Division, Goldwater Memorial Hospital.

Footnotes
Dr. Lathem's present address: Veterans Administration Hospital.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?