La fisiología en las películas: Coma, CO y la comprensión del intercambio gaseoso

Abstract

We analyze the movie Coma directed by Michael Chricton in 1978 and inspired in the novel of the same name that was written by Robin Cook. The film is a medical thriller that shows several cases of patients who dropped in coma in a hospital during simple surgical procedures of minimal risk. Patients were young and healthy and the appearance of coma was unexpected and unexplainable. The heroine is a resident from surgery who discovers that affected patients are moved to the same long care institution. There, their organs are illegally removed to be used in patients who need them and who pay huge amounts of money. She also investigates the cause of coma and discovers that patients are poisoned with carbon monoxide during surgical procedures. The film has a teaching interest to stimulate the understanding of blood oxygen transport by hemoglobin, as well as the knowledge of affinity to this molecule by several gases, as oxygen, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. Students may also learn how to apply physiological concepts to understand the carbon monoxide intoxication, the clinical signs and symptoms, and the scientific bases of its treatment.