Higher brain dysfunction is a general term for mental and psychological functions including cognitive processes, such as perception, memory, learning, thinking, and judgment, and emotions. Higher brain dysfunction is a condition in which cognitive dysfunction occurs due to brain damage caused by cerebrovascular accidents, encephalitis, or brain trauma. In the present report, we describe treatment of higher brain dysfunction due to severe acute carbon monoxide poisoning in a patient with flame burns.
The patient was a 20-year-old man who was found lying down in a fire at home when he was rescued. Due to his unstable respiratory condition, he was intubated in the trachea in the on-site ambulance and transferred to our hospital. At the time of admission, he showed a large amount of fresh bloody sputum from the tracheal tube, and bronchoscopy showed soot adhesion in the trachea and an abnormally high CO-Hb value (42.9%) . Extensive third-degree burns were found on his right forearm and back. Ventilator management was required for the treatment of airway burns and acute lung injury, and initial hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) could not be performed.
Although he had higher brain dysfunction, he continued to undergo HBOT and rehabilitation during hospitalization and gradually improved. There are various findings about the effectiveness of HBOT, but in the present case, it was considered that HBOT was effective for treatment of higher brain dysfunction due to acute CO poisoning.
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