The Use of Oxygen in Cyanide Poisoning

The effectiveness of assisted ventilation in the treatment of dogs that had been poisoned with cyanide was investigated. The use of air and oxygen for this purpose was compared. The time to death (about 7 minutes) was the same in untreated dogs and in dogs given assisted ventilation with air under the conditions of these experiments. Early treatment with oxygen prolonged the time to death to an average of 14 minutes. In dogs given oxygen later after an additional dose of cyanide, duration of survival depended on the blood pressure at the beginning of treatment. When the blood pressure was less then 25% of the control blood pressure, the survival time averaged 7 minutes. When the blood pressure was greater than 25% of control, the survival time averaged 16 minutes. Thus, assisted ventilation with oxygen, but not with air, was successful in prolonging the lives of dogs given lethal doses of sodium cyanide.