Carbon monoxide intoxication induced delayed anoxic encephalopathy: A case report

Carbon monoxide (CO) intoxication can be a deadly condition and it is a very common public health problem in Turkey due to coal stoves that are used in winter at homes. Carbon monoxide intoxication is the reason in more than half of the deaths due to intoxications in Turkey. It is very likely to misdiagnose the cases of delayed anoxic encephalopathy (DAE) which are seen after the latent period following the acute intoxication. In delayed anoxic encephalopathy, following complete recovery and after a latent period, the patient has neurologic and/or psychiatric symptoms again. The symptom triad of DAE are mental deterioration, urinary and/or gaita incontinence and gait disturbances. The psychiatric apperance in DAE can be seen in a variety of very different clinicial findings including dementia, amnestic syndromes, organic affective disorders, personality disorders and psychosis. In this case report, we present a 35 year old man, who was admitted to hospital because of iritability and loose mind. The patient did not have any psychiatric or neurologic disorder before, but he had a CO intoxication 33 days before the admission and discharged from the hospital following a hyperbaric oxygen treatment with a complete recovery and after a fifteen days of latent period he was admitted to hospital because of mentioned symptoms. The differential diagnosis of the rich neuropsychiatric findings in this patient is discussed in this case report.