Patient bleeds dark green blood

[mawilson 2,133]

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.

Dark green

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.

Describing the case in The Lancet, the doctors led by Dr Alana Flexman from St Paul's Hospital

in Vancouver wrote: "The patient recovered uneventfully, and stopped taking sumatriptan after

discharge.

"When seen five weeks after his last dose, he was found to have no sulfhaemoglobin in his blood."

The man had needed urgent surgery because he had developed a dangerous condition in his legs

after falling asleep in a sitting position.

The surgeons performed urgent fasciotomies, limb-saving procedures which involve making

surgical incisions to relieve pressure and swelling caused by the man's condition - compartment

syndrome.

In compartment syndrome, the swelling and pressure in a restricted space limits blood flow and

causes localised tissue and nerve damage.

It is commonly caused by trauma, internal bleeding or a wound dressings or cast being too tight.

According to the science fantasy television series Star Trek, Mr Spock had green blood because

the oxygen-carrying agent in Vulcan blood includes copper, rather than iron, as is the case in humans.

Mr Spock had a human mother, and Vulcan father, from who he inherited his inability to make

sense of human emotion, as well as his green blood.

Source

[MissStacey 1]

Sh#t. Our secret is out.

[~Nini~ 2]

Sh#t. Our secret is out.

Prepare the transporter! >.>

[MissStacey 1]

Sh#t. Our secret is out.

Prepare the transporter! >.>

And bring the poutine!

[~Nini~ 2]

Sh#t. Our secret is out.

Prepare the transporter! >.>

And bring the poutine!

What about the colored Monopoly money? Can we use that in outer space?

[MissStacey 1]

No, we have to covert those to hockey pucks.

[Mags 112]

That is SO cool! I'm gonna take me some of that!

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Speaking of conditions from sitting in a small space for a long time - I remember reading about a journalist who died from a blood clot that developed in his leg while he was riding around in a tank on assignment.

[almaty 19]

hmmm..green blood....sounds like he be a gas on halloween

[JoeMama 0]

Speaking of conditions from sitting in a small space for a long time - I remember reading about a journalist who died from a blood clot that developed in his leg while he was riding around in a tank on assignment.

He didn't live long and prosper!

[Queen Jenn 0]

Speaking of conditions from sitting in a small space for a long time - I remember reading about a journalist who died from a blood clot that developed in his leg while he was riding around in a tank on assignment.

His name was David Bloom and he was one of my favorite reporters. It was so sad when he died.