Obese man with green blood

[drjbrennan]

There's no link here because I'm looking for it, but my workmates told me this morning of a news item about a very obese man who went in for surgery and was found to have green blood. Too much potassium or something.

Can anybody find the link ahead of me ?

 

[GNC]

Has Leonard Nimoy put on weight?

 

[Jerry_B]

You mean this...?

Patient bleeds dark green blood

A team of Canadian surgeons got a shock when the patient they were operating on began shedding dark greenish-black blood, the Lancet reports.

The man emulated Star Trek's Mr Spock - the Enterprise's science officer who supposedly had green Vulcan blood.

In this case, the unusual colour of the 42-year-old's blood was down to the migraine medication he was taking.

The man's leg surgery went ahead successfully and his blood returned to normal once he eased off the drug.

Source

 

[drjbrennan]

My goodness that was quick, yes indeed that was the story, but not as weird as I thought.

 

[EnolaGaia]

The more specific explanation (same source cited above):

The patient had been taking large doses of sumatriptan - 200 milligrams a day.

This had caused a rare condition called sulfhaemoglobinaemia, where sulphur is incorporated into the oxygen-carrying compound haemoglobin in red blood cells.

 

[Mighty_Emperor]

Green sweat is one thing - green blood though....

www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=73473

[Emp edit: merged]

 

[OldTimeRadio]

Fresh red ink, before it has dried, appears green in certain lighting angles.

Does blood?

 

[eburacum]

That's interesting; chlorophyll sometimes looks red in transmitted light and green in reflected light. Red ink is probably the opposite case.

But I don't think that is what caused this green blood colour effect.