Arsine poisoning

A 31-year-old patient was admitted to the hospital because of dark red urine which on examination was found to be due to extracellular hemoglobin. The cause of the hemoglobinuria was exposure to arsine gas from a cylinder thought to be empty. The worker's exposure time was approximately one to two minutes. The degree of hemolytic anemia required only one unit of packed red cells. The patient was hydrated intravenously to avoid acute tubular necrosis. The arsenic content in the urine taken was 0.72 mg/L on the day of admission and dropped to 0.1 mg/L on the fourth day of hospitalization. The patient was discharged eight days after admission, when clinical and hematological status had improved sufficiently. Occupational history revealed that protective procedures employed in the handling of the cylinders containing the arsine gas were inadequate. It was found that the valve on one of the cylinders was half-opened and leaking and that the dust caps, which were attached to the outside of the valves of the cylinders, were present on some and not on others and, where present, had been hand-tightened and not wrench-tightened. Moreover, the cylinders although specified to be empty, were not, according to regulations requiring pressure to be less than 25 pounds gauge or 45 absolute.