That's what cocaine does to your brain

X-rays have been released, revealing the damage caused by cocaine to your brain after a man suffering from mental confusion and fever has been hospitalized.

The man, aged 45, was killed by his parents after a fall and had a cut above the eye. He was found infected and quickly fell into a coma.

MRIs at Mater Dei Hospital in Malta revealed permanent changes in the white matter in his brain.

While he remained unconscious, his brain was regularly examined by a scanner that revealed the death of nerve cells in the white matter. The white matter controls learning, problem solving, walking, balance and mood.

A month later, when he came back from his coma, he was suffering from symptoms similar to dementia.

He was diagnosed with leukoencephalopathy, a progressive brain injury caused by persistent cocaine use.

Antibiotics and antivirals did nothing to help him and he became increasingly sick, according to doctors Dr. Ylenia Abdilla, according to the British Medical Journal Case Reports.

As a doctor, I know how dangerous anti-vaccination opinions are.

The patient remembered that he hit his head, but he was so confused that the doctors wrote, "The patient did not cooperate, he could not perform simple tasks and he did not follow the orders."

After two months of hospitalization, he suffered from a moderate cognitive impairment.

A year later, he still shows signs of brain damage, but his thinking skills have returned to normal and he was living independently.

Dr. Abdilla's team added: "Prognosis [for cocaine-induced leukoencephalopathy] is poor – the disease progresses rapidly and often leads to death.

"Rarely, it has been reported that it resulted in a complete recovery, as in our case."

He has since stopped taking cocaine.