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Updated: Sep 26, 2025

Expired CO2 Measurement in Intubated or Spontaneously Breathing Patients from the Emergency Department
Published on: January 29, 2011
Carbon Monoxide Toxicity
Kristine A Nañagas1, Shannon J Penfound2, Louise W Kao3
1Department of Emergency Medicine, Medical Toxicology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indiana Poison Center, 1701 North Senate Boulevard, B412b, Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA.
Abstract:
Carbon monoxide accounts for thousands of deaths worldwide each year. Clinical effects can be diverse and include headache, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, syncope, seizures, coma, dysrhythmias, and cardiac ischemia, and severe toxicity generally affects the nervous and cardiovascular systems. Because of its complex pathophysiology, effects of toxicity can be acute or delayed. The diagnosis can be elusive, as carboxyhemoglobin levels do not always correlate with the degree of poisoning. Even when the diagnosis is certain, appropriate therapy is widely debated. Normobaric oxygen is the standard therapy, and the efficacy of hyperbaric oxygen is unclear.
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