How Soon Can A Person Recover From An Induced Coma?

Posted on Mon, 10 Jul 2017

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Mon, 10 Jul 2017 Answered on

Mon, 7 Aug 2017 Last reviewed on

Question : my friend has contracted sepsis and is in an induced coma, how long will they keep in the coma?

Answered by Dr. Panagiotis Zografakis (7 hours later)

Brief Answer:
until the infection is under control

Detailed Answer:
Hello,

unfortunately the answer is not that simple... Doctors may have to induce coma to septic patients when their respiratory system fails to provide adequate oxygen to the blood. When the respiratory system fails the patient may die soon. Induced coma provides more time for the treatment to act and for the patient to recover his respiratory functionality. Whether the patient will recover or not cannot be accurately predicted on an individual basis although the doctors may tell you how patients on the same situation usually do - there are severity scores for critically ill patients (certain clinical and lab tests are used to calculate the score). Patients with significant comorbities (like advanced COPD, heart failure, renal failure, etc) do worse than the rest.

So in conclusion, the answer is that there is no answer! It depends on many factors and only the patient's doctors may have a better idea than the rest of us about the patient's chances.

I hope you find my comments helpful!
Kind regards!

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar