The respiratory system sobers you up by hyperventilating alcohol

Excessive alcohol consumption can lead to damaging and even fatal ethanol poisoning in the body. Current treatment options are limited, but researchers may have discovered a new use for a device that treats carbon monoxide poisoning. It essentially allows a person to hyperventilate safely without passing out.

The device is the ClearMate from Thornhill Medical, a for-profit spin-off company of the University Health Network in Canada. A study of the device found that hyperventilation cleared alcohol from the body at least three times faster than through the liver alone, UHN said in a statement Thursday.

The loss of carbon dioxide during hyperventilation can lead to fainting. ClearMate solves these problems by returning carbon dioxide to the patient through a face mask. This allows the lungs to exhale ethanol from alcohol poisoning, reducing its presence in the blood.

While it looks like this device may be popular for people who party too much, there are some serious medical issues here. UHN said this “could be a game-changer in lifesaving therapy for severe alcohol poisoning, as well as just ‘sobering up’.”

The human liver does most of the work of removing alcohol from the human system, but it can only work so fast. “This leaves supportive measures such as giving oxygen, intravenous fluids, breathing assistance and treating heart problems with medication, as the only options for treating life-threatening alcohol levels,” UHN said.

“It’s a very basic, low-tech device that could be manufactured anywhere in the world – no electronic device, no computer or filter is required,” said Joseph Fisher, co-founder of Thornhill Medical. “It’s almost inexplicable why we didn’t try this decades ago.”

The device had already been approved by the FDA in 2019 to be marketed as a treatment for carbon monoxide poisoning.

The team published their results in the journal Scientific Reports this month under the headline “Accelerated elimination of ethanol via the lungs.” The study was a proof of concept with only five volunteers, so ClearMate is not yet approved for use in the treatment of alcohol poisoning.

The researchers recommend follow-up studies with the aim of moving towards clinical trials.