What Researchers Did
Researchers treated four comatose patients with severe carbon monoxide poisoning using a combination of hyperbaric oxygen and therapeutic hypothermia.
What They Found
Three of the four patients (75%) were discharged home with normal neurological exams after receiving three hyperbaric oxygen treatments and 24 hours of therapeutic hypothermia.
The remaining patient, despite severe brain injury, made a dramatic neurological recovery with only minor limitations in higher order memory and attention, and no patients experienced other end organ damage.
Canadian Relevance
This study has no direct Canadian connection as it was conducted outside of Canada.
Study Limitations
The primary limitation of this study is its small sample size, being a preliminary case report series of only four patients.