CARBON-MONOXIDE POISONING AND TREATMENT WITH HYPERBARIC-OXYGEN IN THESUBACUTE PHASE

The use of normobaric versus hyperbaric (>2 atm) oxygen in the treatme nt of carbon monoxide intoxication continues to be a matter of debate despite reports of increased efficacy with hyperbaric oxygen. When hyp erbaric oxygen is used, immediate treatment is preferred for best resu lts. The therapeutic window of time, however, is unknown. A patient pr esented with acute confusion and partial retrograde and total anterogr ade memory loss due to carbon monoxide poisoning. He was initially tre ated with normobaric oxygen and failed to show appreciable improvement . One month after carbon monoxide exposure the patient underwent treat ment with hyperbaric oxygen and showed appreciable symptom relief conf irmed by clinical findings and neuropsychological testing. This case s hows that hyperbaric oxygen may be efficacious in the recovery of neur opsychiatric function up to 1 month after carbon monoxide induced brai n injury.