Concentration of ethanol and other volatile compounds in the blood of acutely poisoned alcoholics

Abstract 

The presence of volatile compounds, such as acetone, acetaldehyde, methanol, ethanol, isopropanol, and n-propanol, in the blood of 169 acutely poisoned alcoholics was determined. The clinical diagnosis of addiction was made on the basis of a patient interview as well as physical, psychological, and psychiatric examination. At the time of the patients’ admission to the clinic, the mean concentration of ethanol in blood was 3.14 ± 1.10 g/l and its elimination rate in the studied group was 0.27 ± 0.08 g/kg/hr, an elimination rate significantly higher (P < .001) than that of social drinkers, which averages to 0.014 ± 0.04 g/kg/h. The presence of other volatile compounds in the blood of alcohol-addicted patients is common. The calculated elimination rate constant of methanol was about 0.2 h⁻¹. This rate seems to indicate that, in heavy drinkers, the elimination of methanol may be relatively fast even if the ethanol concentration is above 1 g/l. The elimination of other volatile compounds can be accelerated by large doses of ethanol, although it is not correlated with actual blood ethanol level. Moreover, in most of the blood samples with a methanol concentration below 10 mg/l, the measured concentration of acetone was below 7 mg/l and that of isopropanol was below 2 mg/l.

Keywords:  Alcoholics, Methanol, Volatile compounds, Elimination rate constant