J.Jpn. Surg. Soc.. 81(6): 549-555, 1980
Original article
ACUTE CARBON-MONOXIDE POISONING
－COMPUTERIZED TOMOGCAPHY CORRELATE OF INTRACRANIAL LESIONS－
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Department of Traumatology, Osaka University Hospital Yusuke Sawada, Hisashi Kobayashi, Hisashi Sugimoto, Noriyoshi Ohashi, Michitomo Takahashi, Toshiharu Yoshioka, Tsuyoshi Sugimoto |
The long term outcome after one to six months revealed 10 of them to be severely disabled or dead. In 9 of these cases, CT scan without enhancement demonstrated marked low density areas of the basal ganglia and the white matter of the cerebrum.
In early stages of acute carbon-monoxide poisoning, the low density of the basal ganglis and the white matter in CT scan were supposed to be the so-caled “vasogenic edema” caused by an increase in extracellular fluid due to increased vascular permeability.
While in late stage, at least after 7 day, the main brain pathological changes of these low density areas in both lesions were supposed to be due to “demyelination”.
We concluded, from the follow-up study of CT scan, the cause of acute carbon-monoxide poisoning cannot be explained by the hypoxic process alone, and histotoxic action of the carbon-monoxide must also be emphasized as an important cause.
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