What Researchers Did
Researchers compared normobaric oxygen (NBO) with hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) in 629 adults with acute carbon monoxide intoxication, stratifying by initial consciousness impairment.
What They Found
Among patients without initial consciousness impairment, 66% receiving NBO and 68% receiving HBO recovered at one month. For patients with initial impairment, 54% recovered with one HBO session and 52% with two sessions. Hyperbaric oxygen was not found to be beneficial for patients who did not lose consciousness or those with only brief loss of consciousness.
What This Means for Canadian Patients
For Canadian patients experiencing acute carbon monoxide poisoning without loss of consciousness, hyperbaric oxygen may not offer additional benefit over normobaric oxygen. Patients with brief loss of consciousness also did not show improved recovery with two hyperbaric oxygen sessions compared to one.
Canadian Relevance
This study has no direct Canadian connection as it was conducted in France and published in a European journal.
Study Limitations
The study acknowledged insufficient power to definitively assess the value of hyperbaric oxygen in patients presenting with coma.