Intoxikace dusitanem sodným aneb nový trend při sebevraždách
Sodium Nitrite Intoxication, A New Trend in Suicides

Summary/Abstract: The article presents a case series involving sodium nitrite intoxication. Sodium nitrite is a water-soluble, white-yellow crystalline powder with wide application in various industries. Sodium nitrite blocks the binding of red blood cells to oxygen and thus the iron component of hemoglobin is oxidized from the divalent form to trivalent and hemoglobin is converted to methemoglobin. Methemoglobin cannot bind oxygen, which results in impaired oxygen transport with the development of hypoxia and lactic acidosis. The use of sodium nitrite for suicidal purposes has become a worldwide phenomenon in recent years, which unfortunately has also spread to the Czech Republic with cases of such intoxication being reported from several regions. In these cases, suicides by sodium nitrite intoxication mostly involve young individuals who usually found relevant information for committing such suicide at special publications or at websites where sodium nitrite can also be purchased.

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