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Assessing brain injury after cardiac arrest, towards a quantitative approach

Cronberg, Tobias LU (2019) In Current Opinion in Critical Care 25(3). p.211-217
Abstract

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Withdrawal of life-sustaining therapy due to a presumed poor neurological prognosis precedes most deaths in patients who have been resuscitated after an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and are being treated in an ICU. Guidelines to support these critical decisions recommend a multimodal strategy based on advanced diagnostic methods. This review will discuss clinical experience with the 2015 guidelines and recent developments towards more accurate quantification of posthypoxic brain injury. RECENT FINDINGS: Qualitative assessment of clinical findings, neurophysiological signals and radiological images are prone to error due to the individual assessors' experience and competence. Currently, the only quantitative method... (More)

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Withdrawal of life-sustaining therapy due to a presumed poor neurological prognosis precedes most deaths in patients who have been resuscitated after an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and are being treated in an ICU. Guidelines to support these critical decisions recommend a multimodal strategy based on advanced diagnostic methods. This review will discuss clinical experience with the 2015 guidelines and recent developments towards more accurate quantification of posthypoxic brain injury. RECENT FINDINGS: Qualitative assessment of clinical findings, neurophysiological signals and radiological images are prone to error due to the individual assessors' experience and competence. Currently, the only quantitative method for assessment of postarrest brain injury in regular clinical use is the measurement of neuron-specific enolase in serum. Since 2015 several promising methods to standardize assessment have been introduced including pupillometry, standardized electroencephalography interpretation and the quantification of somatosensory evoked potentials, computed tomography and MRI-signals. In addition, novel and superior blood biomarkers are on the verge of clinical introduction. SUMMARY: The current guidelines for neuroprognostication include a step-by-step multimodal algorithm but many patients will still be left with an uncertain prognosis 4-5 days after cardiac arrest. Novel quantitative methods are a necessary step to a more nuanced prediction of outcome for this group of patients.

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author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Current Opinion in Critical Care
volume
25
issue
3
pages
7 pages
publisher
Wolters Kluwer
external identifiers
  • scopus:85065327165
  • pmid:31022084
ISSN
1531-7072
DOI
10.1097/MCC.0000000000000611
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
a6419be1-c65c-46c0-9f9a-67f550073d92
date added to LUP
2019-05-20 12:41:53
date last changed
2024-04-16 06:24:10
@article{a6419be1-c65c-46c0-9f9a-67f550073d92,
  abstract     = {{<p>PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Withdrawal of life-sustaining therapy due to a presumed poor neurological prognosis precedes most deaths in patients who have been resuscitated after an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and are being treated in an ICU. Guidelines to support these critical decisions recommend a multimodal strategy based on advanced diagnostic methods. This review will discuss clinical experience with the 2015 guidelines and recent developments towards more accurate quantification of posthypoxic brain injury. RECENT FINDINGS: Qualitative assessment of clinical findings, neurophysiological signals and radiological images are prone to error due to the individual assessors' experience and competence. Currently, the only quantitative method for assessment of postarrest brain injury in regular clinical use is the measurement of neuron-specific enolase in serum. Since 2015 several promising methods to standardize assessment have been introduced including pupillometry, standardized electroencephalography interpretation and the quantification of somatosensory evoked potentials, computed tomography and MRI-signals. In addition, novel and superior blood biomarkers are on the verge of clinical introduction. SUMMARY: The current guidelines for neuroprognostication include a step-by-step multimodal algorithm but many patients will still be left with an uncertain prognosis 4-5 days after cardiac arrest. Novel quantitative methods are a necessary step to a more nuanced prediction of outcome for this group of patients.</p>}},
  author       = {{Cronberg, Tobias}},
  issn         = {{1531-7072}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{3}},
  pages        = {{211--217}},
  publisher    = {{Wolters Kluwer}},
  series       = {{Current Opinion in Critical Care}},
  title        = {{Assessing brain injury after cardiac arrest, towards a quantitative approach}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/MCC.0000000000000611}},
  doi          = {{10.1097/MCC.0000000000000611}},
  volume       = {{25}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}