Hemoglobin Cheverly

Very rare. Unstable hemoglobin due to the substitution of phenylalanine by serine in position 45 on the  ß chain of hemoglobin

This mutation results in:

-        reduced affinity of hemoglobin for O2

-        decrease of the Bohr effect

-        modification in the absorbance of light at the 660 nm wavelength used by the pulse oximeters: the resulting SpO2 is artificially falsely low


Anesthetic implications: 

decrease of the affinity of Hbfor O2 and falsely low SpO2 value given by pulse oxymeters; monitoring either by transcutaneous PaO2 or arterial blood PaO2


References :

-        Hohl RJ, Sherburne AR, Feeley JE, Huisman THJ, Burns CP.
Low pulse oximeter measured haemoglobin oxygen saturation with haemoglobin Cheverly.
Am J Hematol 1998; 59: 181-4.


Updated: July 2017