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Serial soluble neurofilament heavy chain in plasma as a marker of brain injury after cardiac arrest

Rundgren, Malin LU ; Friberg, Hans LU ; Cronberg, Tobias LU ; Romner, Bertil and Petzold, Axel (2012) In Critical Care 16(2).
Abstract
Introduction: Induced hypothermia has been shown to improve outcome after cardiac arrest, but early prognostication is hampered by the need for sedation. Here we tested whether a biomarker for neurodegeneration, the neurofilament heavy chain (NfH), may improve diagnostic accuracy in the first days after cardiac arrest. Methods: This prospective study included 90 consecutive patients treated with hypothermia after cardiac arrest. Plasma levels of phosphorylated NfH (SMI35) were quantified using standard ELISA over a period of 72 h after cardiac arrest. The primary outcome was the dichotomized Cerebral Performance Categories scale (CPC). A best CPC 1-2 during 6 months follow-up was considered a good outcome, a best CPC of 3-4 a poor outcome.... (More)
Introduction: Induced hypothermia has been shown to improve outcome after cardiac arrest, but early prognostication is hampered by the need for sedation. Here we tested whether a biomarker for neurodegeneration, the neurofilament heavy chain (NfH), may improve diagnostic accuracy in the first days after cardiac arrest. Methods: This prospective study included 90 consecutive patients treated with hypothermia after cardiac arrest. Plasma levels of phosphorylated NfH (SMI35) were quantified using standard ELISA over a period of 72 h after cardiac arrest. The primary outcome was the dichotomized Cerebral Performance Categories scale (CPC). A best CPC 1-2 during 6 months follow-up was considered a good outcome, a best CPC of 3-4 a poor outcome. Receiver operator characteristics and area under the curve were calculated. Results: The median age of the patients was 65 years, and 63 (70%) were male. A cardiac aetiology was identified in 62 cases (69%). 77 patients (86%) had out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. The outcome was good in 48 and poor in 42 patients. Plasma NfH levels were significantly higher 2 and 36 hours after cardiac arrest in patients with poor outcome (median 0.28 ng/mL and 0.5 ng/mL, respectively) compared to those with good outcome (0 ng/mL, p = 0.016, p < 0.005, respectively). The respective AUC were 0.72 and 0.71. Conclusions: Plasma NfH levels correlate to neurological prognosis following cardiac arrest. In this study, 15 patients had neurological co-morbidities and there was a considerable overlap of data. As such, neurofilament should not be used for routine neuroprognostication until more data are available. (Less)
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author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Critical Care
volume
16
issue
2
article number
R45
publisher
BioMed Central (BMC)
external identifiers
  • wos:000313196800011
  • scopus:84857989908
ISSN
1364-8535
DOI
10.1186/cc11244
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
691f54bb-aa2b-4afe-aa98-74d5de476e44 (old id 3504132)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 10:24:27
date last changed
2022-04-20 01:54:46
@article{691f54bb-aa2b-4afe-aa98-74d5de476e44,
  abstract     = {{Introduction: Induced hypothermia has been shown to improve outcome after cardiac arrest, but early prognostication is hampered by the need for sedation. Here we tested whether a biomarker for neurodegeneration, the neurofilament heavy chain (NfH), may improve diagnostic accuracy in the first days after cardiac arrest. Methods: This prospective study included 90 consecutive patients treated with hypothermia after cardiac arrest. Plasma levels of phosphorylated NfH (SMI35) were quantified using standard ELISA over a period of 72 h after cardiac arrest. The primary outcome was the dichotomized Cerebral Performance Categories scale (CPC). A best CPC 1-2 during 6 months follow-up was considered a good outcome, a best CPC of 3-4 a poor outcome. Receiver operator characteristics and area under the curve were calculated. Results: The median age of the patients was 65 years, and 63 (70%) were male. A cardiac aetiology was identified in 62 cases (69%). 77 patients (86%) had out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. The outcome was good in 48 and poor in 42 patients. Plasma NfH levels were significantly higher 2 and 36 hours after cardiac arrest in patients with poor outcome (median 0.28 ng/mL and 0.5 ng/mL, respectively) compared to those with good outcome (0 ng/mL, p = 0.016, p &lt; 0.005, respectively). The respective AUC were 0.72 and 0.71. Conclusions: Plasma NfH levels correlate to neurological prognosis following cardiac arrest. In this study, 15 patients had neurological co-morbidities and there was a considerable overlap of data. As such, neurofilament should not be used for routine neuroprognostication until more data are available.}},
  author       = {{Rundgren, Malin and Friberg, Hans and Cronberg, Tobias and Romner, Bertil and Petzold, Axel}},
  issn         = {{1364-8535}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{2}},
  publisher    = {{BioMed Central (BMC)}},
  series       = {{Critical Care}},
  title        = {{Serial soluble neurofilament heavy chain in plasma as a marker of brain injury after cardiac arrest}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/1819216/3805885.pdf}},
  doi          = {{10.1186/cc11244}},
  volume       = {{16}},
  year         = {{2012}},
}