It’s a scenario straight out of Gray’s Anatomy – a paramedic or doctor plops a mask over the face of a person struggling to breathe and begins dispensing pure oxygen. Yet growing research suggests that inhaling straight oxygen can actually harm the brain. For the first time, a new UCLA brain-imaging study reveals why. Published in the May 22 edition of Public Library of Science (PLoS) Medicine, the findings fly in the face of national guidelines for medical practice and recommend a new approach adding carbon dioxide to the gas mix to preserve brain function in patients.
