ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate clinical and imaging characteristics of delayed encephalopathy after carbon monoxide poisoning(DEACMP).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A retrospective and comparative analysis of neurological manifestations, course, periods of false-cure, prognosis and neuroimaging findings were conducted in 198 patients with DEACMP.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Of these patients, 60.1% obtained an initial recovery within 30 d, 23.7% within 31-60 d and 14.6% over 60 d. Total clinical rate was 32.8%, and effectiveness rate 70.1%. According to imaging findings, 15.2% patients were found to have bilateral lesions of basal ganglion, and 70.0% with lesions of subcortical white matter, 12.6% with lesions of two types above mentioned and 2.1% with no lesions. The intervals between onset of illness and initial recovery were (44.6 +/- 10.1), (38.2 +/- 11.9), (61.3 +/- 17.0) d, and (7.5 +/- 2.4) d respectively. Imaging findings can demonstrate the severity of brain injury, but not necessarily parallel to the improvement of illness, for which SPECT proves more useful.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>DEACMP is involved in ischemic brain injury and a self-limited illness.</p>