3 ms·
That's true. There are other context clues that we can use, like a patient's medical history, how their breathing looks/sounds, or if their environment or menta
by PascLeRasc 6y ago
That's true. There are other context clues that we can use, like a patient's medical history, how their breathing looks/sounds, or if their environment or mental status suggests CO poisoning (that also won't show up even on the perfect pulse ox, since it binds to hemoglobin the same way oxygen does). Overall we just need a better way to get information about oxygen levels.
- sbierwagen 6y agoAt first thought, a hemoglobin protein loaded up with CO molecules should have slightly less mass than an oxygenated hemoglobin complex, which could... theoretically... be measured, maybe with Raman spectroscopy. That effect is going to be tiny, though. Wikipedia is telling me a hemoglobin tetramer masses "about" 64,000 daltons, so a complex loaded up with 4CO will mass 64,111 vs 64,127 amu. 0.024% difference.