Carbon Monoxide Poisoning: Treatment Overview

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Treatment Overview

The goal of treatment for carbon monoxide poisoning is to remove carbon monoxide from the hemoglobin in your blood and bring the oxygen level in your blood back to normal.

For the immediate treatment of carbon monoxide poisoning, it is important that you remove yourself from the area where the gas may be present. If carbon monoxide poisoning is known or suspected, get out of the building or car where the carbon monoxide is present.

After you are taken to the hospital, you may be given oxygen therapy. The most common type of oxygen therapy, called 100% oxygen therapy, involves breathing oxygen through a tight-fitting mask. If you have severe carbon monoxide poisoning and can't breathe on your own, a breathing machine may be used to help you breathe and to provide extra oxygen. In some cases, a person may receive hyperbaric oxygen therapy. During this treatment, you are put into a full-body chamber that uses oxygen under pressure (hyperbaric chamber) to remove the carbon monoxide faster.

Several factors are considered when treating carbon monoxide poisoning. Tests are done to find out the amount of carbon monoxide in the blood. Infants, small children, older adults, and people with health problems are more severely affected by carbon monoxide in the blood. Treatment usually includes oxygen therapy to treat severe symptoms and to lower carbon monoxide levels in the blood as quickly as possible.

If treatment is timely, most people are able to recover from carbon monoxide poisoning. If it is not treated, severe carbon monoxide poisoning can lead to heart or brain damage or death. Even after treatment, a person who survives a severe case of carbon monoxide poisoning may have permanent memory loss or brain damage. But most people who are critically injured or who die from carbon monoxide poisoning never received treatment. It is especially important to be aware of the warning signs and to seek immediate treatment if carbon monoxide poisoning is suspected. For more information, see the Symptoms section of this topic.

What To Think About

• Oxygen therapy should not be delayed while tests are being done.
• During the weeks following treatment, any changes in vision, coordination, or behavior should be reported to your doctor.
• If a pregnant woman has carbon monoxide poisoning, treatment must be continued even after carbon monoxide is no longer found in her blood, because there still may be carbon monoxide in the blood of the fetus.

Last updated:	March 18, 2008
Author:	Maria G. Essig, MS, ELS
Reviewed By:	Caroline S. Rhoads, MD - Internal Medicine, R. Steven Tharratt, MD, MPVM, FACP, FCCP - Pulmonology, Critical Care, Medical Toxicology
Editors:	Susan Van Houten, RN, BSN, MBA, Pat Truman, MATC