"Silent Killer" Carbon Monoxide Directly Damages Heart Muscle Cells

Professor Cha Yongseong's Yonsei University Team, Proven by MRI

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] A study has found that heart damage accompanying carbon monoxide poisoning is caused not by hypoxia but by carbon monoxide directly damaging the myocardium.

The National Research Foundation of Korea announced on the 29th that Professor Cha Yong-sung's research team at Yonsei University Wonju College of Medicine identified the presence and pattern of myocardial damage caused by carbon monoxide poisoning through cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

More than 7,000 patients suffer from acute carbon monoxide poisoning each year. Heart damage caused by poisoning has been linked to early death or the occurrence of cardiovascular diseases. However, it was unclear how initial heart abnormalities affected the long-term prognosis of patients with myocardial damage, even though structural and motion abnormalities on echocardiography and elevated myocardial enzymes recovered during treatment.

To non-invasively confirm myocardial damage caused by carbon monoxide, the research team conducted cardiac status evaluations over three years on 104 patients with acute carbon monoxide poisoning using the most sensitive test method, cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), performing scans during the acute phase and 4-5 months after poisoning. As a result, about two-thirds of the patients showed microdamage to the myocardium, mainly presenting fibrosis findings in the mid-wall of the myocardium. This confirmed that hidden myocardial damage may exist in patients with carbon monoxide poisoning.

The research team stated, "Based on these findings suggesting the possibility of direct myocardial damage caused by carbon monoxide, we plan to analyze the relationship between myocardial damage and long-term prognosis through continuous follow-up," adding, "It is expected that basic data for acute phase treatment and prevention of complications as well as treatment strategy establishment due to myocardial damage can be obtained."

The study results were published online on the 14th in Cardiovascular Imaging, an international journal in the field of cardiac radiology published by the American Heart Association.