title: A 47-year-old woman with hypercapnia and altered mental status.
abstract: Permissive hypercapnia is a commonly used ventilator strategy in attempt to improve refractory hypoxemia. The rationale of such practice is based on the assumption that hypercapnia, although associated with altered mental status, is well tolerated. Here, we report a case in which the altered mental status caused by hypercapnia is underlined by a life-threatening mechanism. The case indicates the severity of hypercapnia may have been mistakenly overlooked in the past.
authors.affiliation: Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bellucci
authors.affiliation: Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Renli
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Qiao
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000378:metabolism; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000378:metabolism*; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006935:Hypercapnia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000378:metabolism; D017563:Lung Diseases, Interstitial / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000378:metabolism; D008875:Middle Aged; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
chemical_list: D002245:Carbon Dioxide
keywords: cerebral edema; critical care; hypercapnia