Pulmonary injury after intravenous hydrocarbon injection

Abstract

This report describes the case of a young man in whom an intravenous injection of a hydrocarbon led to reversible pulmonary edema. An 18-year-old male presented with chest pain, a cough and progressive dyspnea at a multidisciplinary paediatric intensive care unit in a tertiary care university hospital. Six hours after oxygen was given, blood gases were pH 7.16, partial pressure of carbon dioxide 43 torr (5.7 kPa), partial pressure of arterial oxygen 149 torr (19.9 kPa) and bicarbonate concentration 15 mEq/L. A chest radiograph suggested pulmonary edema. On day 3, the patient stated that he had injected himself with Varsol (Imperial Oil, Canada) - a mixture of straight and branched-chain hydrocarbons, naphthenes and alkyl derivatives of benzene - several hours before his admission. On day 5, the patient's respiratory rate returned to 20 breaths/min, and his chest radiograph was normal by day 7. The present case report suggests that the intravenous injection of hydrocarbons may lead to reversible pulmonary injury.