A case report: Intense but clinically transient carbon monoxide intoxication with characteristic computerised brain tomography images

A 53 years old female patient administered to our emergency department with loss of consciousness. She had a history of falling down from a height a couple of hours before our hospital entrance. Her relatives explained that there is a possibility for her cleaning up her chimney of the house. She was found unconsciousness. By our clinical algorithm, we performed carnial computerised tomography (CT) to clearify patients neurologic status in 4 different stages of our clinical follow-up. We observed parancymal oedema and intracarnial hemorrhage. Localization and characteristics of this oedema was reported to be specific to carbon monoxide (CO) intoxication. By the end of the second week, patient presented a clinical and neurological improvement. As a conclusion, we state that a suspicion of CO intoxicity with a detailed evaluation is life saving. Cardiac monitoring, intubation and 100% oxygen applications, elaborate physical and radiological evaluations are mandatory. Serial CT scan of the brain can also present specific and enlightening findings in CO intoxicity cases.