Minerva Pneumologica 2020 Dec 04

DOI: 10.23736/S0026-4954.20.01904-5

Copyright © 2020 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

Carbon monoxide intoxication: not only a "silent killer"

Giulia STATTI ^{1, 2} ✉, Matteo DAVERIO ^{2, 3}, Rui SHI ⁴, Piero E. BALBO ³

¹ Emergency Medicine Department, AOU Maggiore della Carità, Novara, Italy; ² Department of Translational Medicine, Università del Piemonte Orientale UPO, Novara, Italy; ³ Medical Department, Division of Respiratory Diseases, AOU Maggiore della Carità, Novara, Italy; ⁴ Service de Médecine Intensive-Réanimation, Hôpital de Bicêtre, Le Kremlin-Bicêtre, France

Carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning represents the most common cause of acute intoxication worldwide and may be associated with potentially life-threatening consequences. However, once the patient is safely discharged from the hospital, the risk of long-term sequelae still remains, which most commonly involves neurological and cognitive impairments, but also cardiological delayed injuries. In this narrative review we aimed at analyzing some of the most important pathophysiological mechanisms that are responsible for both the immediate and delayed injuries in case of CO poisoning, and to highlight the mainstay for the diagnosis and management of CO intoxication.

KEY WORDS: CO poisoning; Emergency Medicine, Emergency Department