Nitrous oxide and vitamin B12 in sickle cell disease: Not a laughing situation.

ABSTRACT: Nitrous oxide (N2O) is widely used as an anesthetic or an analgesic. N2O prolonged and recurrent administration is known to affect vitamin B12 metabolism with subsequent clinical consequences. We report herein the case of a 13-year-old girl with sickle cell disease exhibiting severe neurological and biochemical signs of functional vitamin B12 deficiency due to prolonged and repeated exposure to N2O. This was an incentive to prospectively investigate functional vitamin B12 deficiency in patients affected by sickle cell disease regularly exposed to N2O. We measured plasma concentrations of vitamin B12, total homocysteine, methionine and methylmalonic acid in 39 patients with sickle cell disease between 2015 and 2016. No patients developed neurological symptoms related to N2O administration b

SUBMITTER: Desprairies C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7078522 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature