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Treatments and drugs
By Mayo Clinic staffCarbon monoxide poisoning is a medical emergency. Treatment is aimed at replacing the carbon monoxide in your blood with oxygen as quickly as possible. In the hospital, you may breathe pure oxygen through a mask placed over your nose and mouth. This helps oxygen reach your organs and tissues. If you can't breathe on your own, a machine (ventilator) may do the breathing for you.
In some cases, hyperbaric oxygen therapy is recommended. With this therapy, you're placed in a full-body pressurized chamber. Inside the chamber, air pressure is more than twice as high as normal atmospheric pressure. This speeds the replacement of carbon monoxide with oxygen in your blood.
- Carbon monoxide poisoning. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/co/faqs.htm. Accessed Oct. 8, 2009.
- Clardy PF. Carbon monoxide poisoning. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Oct. 8, 2009.
- Aulakh SK. Carbon monoxide poisoning. In: Ferri FF. Ferri's Clinical Advisor 2010. St. Louis, Mo.: Mosby; 2009. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/167411074-3/908442430/2088/113.html#4-u1.0-B978-0-323-05609-0..00012-5--sc0015_2246. Accessed Oct. 8, 2009.
- Lavonas EJ. Carbon monoxide poisoning. In: Shannon MW, et al. Haddad and Winchester's Clinical Management of Poisoning and Drug Overdose. 4th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2007. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/167411074-4/908443298/2045/92.html#4-u1.0-B978-0-7216-0693-4..50092-X_3027. Accessed Oct. 8, 2009.
- Wolf SJ, et al. Clinical policy: Critical issues in the management of adult patients presenting to the emergency department with acute carbon monoxide poisoning. Annals of Emergency Medicine. 2008;51:138.
- Anderson CF (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Oct. 15, 2009.
