Prognostication in comatose survivors of cardiac arrest

摘要

Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) is the leading cause of death in comatose patients after cardiac arrest resuscitation. Poor neurological outcome is defined as death from neurological cause, persistent vegetative state, or severe neurological disability which is predicted in these patients by assessing the severity of HIE. The most commonly used indicators of severe HIE include a bilateral absence of corneal and pupillary reflexes, bilateral absence of N2O waves of short-latency somatosensory evoked potentials, high blood concentrations of neuron-specific enolase, unfavorable patterns on electroencephalogram, and signs of diffuse HIE on computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging of the brain.