High Flow O2 and Seizures

[Chris07]

I was told on a call recently that high flow oxygen has some benefit to postictal patients, namely by shortening the postictal period. Has anyone heard of this?

 

[TransportJockey]

I have not heard that... And a quick search didnt show any studies on it

 

[Ewok Jerky]

Never heard of it either.

When peeps through claims at me, I ask what journal or was in. A quick Google scholar search, if you don't have pubmed or uptodate, should give you a summary of any study worth reading. Then you need to judge yourself if its credible.

 

[NomadicMedic]

There's a few anecdotal mentions, but nothing I can find study wise.

 

[DesertMedic66]

I see it all the time here. The reason I am normally told is along the lines of "hey bro, he wasn't breathing during the seizure and he needs a lot of oxygen now to help him"

 

[Underoath87]

I see it all the time here. The reason I am normally told is along the lines of "hey bro, he wasn't breathing during the seizure and he needs a lot of oxygen now to help him"

Well, that does sound pretty logical, assuming that they are hypoxemic...

 

[chaz90]

Unbelievably common in Colorado, not so much here. Seriously, it was just about the first thing everyone did on postictal seizure calls where I worked.

I haven't been able to find any basis in medical evidence from reputable sources. Old EMTs that came before me used their startling knowledge of physiology and EBM to explain "It clears all the cobwebs from the brain. It's basically a broom that goes into the eaves of a postictal brain and clears it all up." I seem to recall eating that kind of garbage up as an EMT student and taking it as gospel.

Anecdotally, I haven't seen it make one iota of difference.

 

[Flying]

I vaguely recall reasoning for oxygen administration being along the lines of seizure = full-body workout = low blood o2 sat = 15 L/min NRB stat.

If that is the case in any way, then we would have to be giving oxygen to a much, much wider range of patients. That probably isn't reasonable.

 

[RocketMedic]

Unbelievably common in Colorado, not so much here. Seriously, it was just about the first thing everyone did on postictal seizure calls where I worked.

I haven't been able to find any basis in medical evidence from reputable sources. Old EMTs that came before me used their startling knowledge of physiology and EBM to explain "It clears all the cobwebs from the brain. It's basically a broom that goes into the eaves of a postictal brain and clears it all up." I seem to recall eating that kind of garbage up as an EMT student and taking it as gospel.

Anecdotally, I haven't seen it make one iota of difference.

Have you never heard of the cerebral attic?

 

[RedAirplane]

Have you never heard of the cerebral attic?

Is that the place where a lot of the things I learned a long time ago are gathering dust?

 

[Chewy20]

Thought these were interesting...

http://www.nature.com/jcbfm/journal/v16/n1/full/9590017a.html

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3518570

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1201643/