[A clinical study on delayed encephalopathy after carbon monoxide poisoning].

OBJECTIVE

To investigate clinical and imaging characteristics of delayed encephalopathy after carbon monoxide poisoning(DEACMP).

METHODS

A retrospective and comparative analysis of neurological manifestations, course, periods of false-cure, prognosis and neuroimaging findings were conducted in 198 patients with DEACMP.

RESULTS

Of these patients, 60.1% obtained an initial recovery within 30 d, 23.7% within 31-60 d and 14.6% over 60 d. Total clinical rate was 32.8%, and effectiveness rate 70.1%. According to imaging findings, 15.2% patients were found to have bilateral lesions of basal ganglion, and 70.0% with lesions of subcortical white matter, 12.6% with lesions of two types above mentioned and 2.1% with no lesions. The intervals between onset of illness and initial recovery were (44.6 +/- 10.1), (38.2 +/- 11.9), (61.3 +/- 17.0) d, and (7.5 +/- 2.4) d respectively. Imaging findings can demonstrate the severity of brain injury, but not necessarily parallel to the improvement of illness, for which SPECT proves more useful.

CONCLUSIONS

DEACMP is involved in ischemic brain injury and a self-limited illness.