DELAYED NEUROLOGICAL DETERIORATION FOLLOWING ACUTE CARBON-MONOXIDE POISONING - COMPARISON OF CLINICAL OUTCOME, NEURO-IMAGING AND POSITRON EMISSION TOMOGRAPHY FINDINGS

In 8 patients with delayed neurological deterioration, following acute CO poisoning, the clinical outcome, the neuroimaging and the positron emission tomography (PET) findings were compared. The severity of the neuropsychiatric sequelae correlated well with the changes of blood flow and oxygen metabolism and the CT scan findings in the brain. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) appeared to have less predictive value on the clinical outcome. In the severe cases of post-CO encephalopathy, the ischemic nature of the metabolic changes could be demonstrated in the cortical regions by PET. However, it could not be determined whether the disturbances in the basal ganglia and cerebral white matter were only due to ischemia or to an additional cytotoxic effect of CO.