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©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Hydrogen inhalation promotes recovery of a patient in persistent vegetative state from intracerebral hemorrhage: A case report and literature review
Yan Huang, Feng-Ming Xiao, Wen-Jie Tang, Jing Qiao, Hai-Feng Wei, Yuan-Yun Xie, You-Zhen Wei
Yan Huang, Feng-Ming Xiao, Department of Rehabilitation, Qilu Children’s Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan 250022, Shandong Province, China
Wen-Jie Tang, You-Zhen Wei, Research Center for Translational Medicine & Key Laboratory of Arrhythmias of the Ministry of Education of China, Shanghai East Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200120, Shanghai Province, China
Jing Qiao, Department of Pediatrics, Shanghai East Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200120, Shanghai Province, China
Hai-Feng Wei, Department of Clinical Imaging, The First Clinical Medical College, Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jinan 250022, Shandong Province, China
Yuan-Yun Xie, National Clinic and Medicine Research Institute for Geriatric Diseases, Gannan Health Promotion and Translational Laboratory, The First Affiliated Hospital, Gannan University of Medical Sciences, Ganzhou 341000, Jiangxi Province, China
Author contributions: Wei YZ and Huang Y conceived the study design and carried out the study; Xiao FM, Wei YZ and Xie YY reviewed the literature; Xiao FM and Tang WJ contributed to manuscript drafting, acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation of data; Qiao J and Wei HF contributed to analysis and interpretation of data; Wei YZ and Xie YY performed critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content; Wei YZ performed final approval of the version of the article to be published.
Informed consent statement: Written consent was obtained from the patient’s family to participate in the study.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read, prepared and revised the manuscript according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See:
https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/ Corresponding author: You-Zhen Wei, MD, Professor, Research Center for Translational Medicine & Key Laboratory of Arrhythmias of the Ministry of Education of China, Shanghai East Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, No. 150 Jimo Road, Shanghai 200120, Shanghai Province, China. wei-youzhen@163.com
Received: August 10, 2021
Peer-review started: August 10, 2021
First decision: September 29, 2021
Revised: October 5, 2021
Accepted: December 22, 2021
Article in press: December 22, 2021
Published online: February 6, 2022
Processing time: 166 Days and 17.4 Hours
BACKGROUND
Persistent vegetative state (PVS) is a devastating and long-lasting clinical condition with high morbidity and mortality; currently, there are no available effective interventions.
CASE SUMMARY
We report the case of an 11-year-old boy with PVS caused by severe intracerebral bleeding in the left hemisphere following anticoagulation treatment. The patient’s PVS severity showed no notable improvement after 2-mo neuroprotective treatment and rehabilitation, including nerve growth factor and baclofen, hyperbaric oxygen, and comprehensive bedside rehabilitation therapies. Daily inhalation treatment (4-6 h) of high-concentration hydrogen (H2) gas (66.6% H2 + 33.3% O2) was provided. Surprisingly, the patient’s orientation, consciousness, ability to speak, facial expressions, and locomotor function were significantly restored, along with improvements in essential general health status, after H2 gas inhalation treatment, which was consistent with stabilized neuropathology in the left hemisphere and increased Hounsfield unit values of computed tomography in the right hemisphere. The patient finally recovered to a near normal conscious state with a Coma Recovery Scale-Revised Score of 22 from his previous score of 3.
CONCLUSION
Phase 1 clinical trials are needed to explore the safety and efficacy of H2 gas inhalation in patients with PVS.
Core Tip: We report a case in which hydrogen (H2) gas inhalation promoted the recovery of an 11-year-old boy with persistent vegetative state (PVS) caused by severe intracerebral bleeding in the left hemisphere following anticoagulation treatment. The patient‘s PVS severity showed no notable improvement after a 2-mo routine neuroprotection treatment and rehabilitation. Surprisingly, the patient’s orientation, consciousness, ability to speak, facial expressions, and locomotor function were significantly restored, after high-concentration H2 gas inhalation treatment. This case indicates that inhalation of H2 may be an effective intervention candidate for patients with loss of consciousness.
