Diagnosis and quantification of damage where smoke has been inhaled

There are about 1,000 deaths in the UK per annum from carbon monoxide poisoning (about a third of all deaths from poisoning). Although poisoning may be as a result of attempted suicide from car exhaust fumes, a common cause is faulty gas appliances, in particular boilers, where there is a build-up of carbon monoxide as an incomplete product of combustion within a house or flat. Carbon monoxide has a high affinity for haemoglobin (200 times that of oxygen) and combines to form carboxyhaemoglobin. This carboxyhaemoglobin prevents the uptake of oxygen onto the haemoglobin and reduces oxygen delivery throughout the body. The half life of carboxyhaemoglobin is five hours, thus, the effect is quite long lasting.