Neurological prognostication of outcome in patients in coma after cardiac arrest.

Management of coma after cardiac arrest has improved during the past decade, allowing an increasing proportion of patients to survive, thus prognostication has become an integral part of post-resuscitation care. Neurologists are increasingly confronted with raised expectations of next of kin and the necessity to provide early predictions of long-term prognosis. During the past decade, as technology and clinical evidence have evolved, post-cardiac arrest prognostication has moved towards a multimodal paradigm combining clinical examination with additional methods, consisting of electrophysiology, blood biomarkers, and brain imaging, to optimise prognostic accuracy. Prognostication should never be based on a single indicator; although some variables have very low false positive rates for poor outcome, multimodal assessment provides resassurance about the reliability of a prognostic estimate by offering concordant evidence

Associated Factors and Prognostic Implications of Stimulus-Induced Rhythmic, Periodic, or Ictal Discharges.

IMPORTANCE: The implications of stimulus-induced rhythmic, periodic, or ictal discharges (SIRPIDs) sometimes found on prolonged electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings are uncertain. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the incidence of SIRPIDs and their clinical implications in critically ill patients. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: A multicenter, international retrospective study was performed from October 1, 2012, through September 30, 2014, of consecutive adult patients hospitalized in intensive care units with alteration of consciousness who underwent EEG recordings at 3 separate centers. Demographic data, including admission diagnosis, age, sex, history of epilepsy, and EEG findings, were noted. Characteristics of SIRPIDs were documented. Data were evaluated for predictors of SIRPIDs and in-hospital mortality. Data analysis was performed from January 16, 2015, to June 15, 2015. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Incidence of SIRPIDs, association of SIRPIDs with mortality and other EEG characteristics, and EEG and clinical predictors of mortality. RESULTS: A total of 416 patients were studied. The median age of patients was 60 years (interquartile range, 46-71 years), and 252 (60.6%) were male. A total of 104 patients (25.0%) did not survive to hospital discharge. SIRPIDs were identified in 43 patients (10.3%). The proportion of patients with SIRPIDs was not significantly different across the 3 sites (P = .34). Anoxic brain injury (odds ratio [OR], 3.80; 95% CI, 1.73-8.33; P < .001), the use of antiepileptic medications (OR, 3.24; 95% CI, 1.31-8.00; P = .01), electrographic seizures (OR, 2.85; 95% CI, 1.13-7.19; P = .03), generalized periodic discharges with triphasic morphologic features (OR, 3.66; 95% CI, 1.67-8.02; P = .001), and sporadic sharp waves and periodic discharges (OR, 2.59; 95% CI, 1.13-5.92; P = .02) were independently associated with the presence of SIRPIDs. Older age (OR, 1.02; 95% CI, 1.01-1.04; P = .005), anoxic brain injury (OR, 3.49; 95% CI, 1.96-6.21; P ≤ .001), and absence of EEG reactivity (OR, 8.14; 95% CI, 4.20-15.79; P < .001) but not SIRPIDs (OR, 1.73; 95% CI, 0.79-3.78; P = .17) were independently associated with in-hospital mortality. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In critically ill patients undergoing EEG recordings, SIRPIDs occurred in 43 (10.3%) and were associated with other electrographic abnormalities previously reported to indicate poor prognosis. However, SIRPIDs were not independently associated with in-hospital mortality

Electroencephalography Predicts Poor and Good Outcomes After Cardiac Arrest: A Two-Center Study.

The prognostic role of electroencephalography during and after targeted temperature management in postcardiac arrest patients, relatively to other predictors, is incompletely known. We assessed performances of electroencephalography during and after targeted temperature management toward good and poor outcomes, along with other recognized predictors. Cohort study (April 2009 to March 2016). Two academic hospitals (Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, Lausanne, Switzerland; Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN). Consecutive comatose adults admitted after cardiac arrest, identified through prospective registries. All patients were managed with targeted temperature management, receiving prespecified standardized clinical, neurophysiologic (particularly, electroencephalography during and after targeted temperature management), and biochemical evaluations. We assessed electroencephalography variables (reactivity, continuity, epileptiform features, and prespecified "benign" or "highly malignant" patterns based on the American Clinical Neurophysiology Society nomenclature) and other clinical, neurophysiologic (somatosensory-evoked potential), and biochemical prognosticators. Good outcome (Cerebral Performance Categories 1 and 2) and mortality predictions at 3 months were calculated. Among 357 patients, early electroencephalography reactivity and continuity and flexor or better motor reaction had greater than 70% positive predictive value for good outcome; reactivity (80.4%; 95% CI, 75.9-84.4%) and motor response (80.1%; 95% CI, 75.6-84.1%) had highest accuracy. Early benign electroencephalography heralded good outcome in 86.2% (95% CI, 79.8-91.1%). False positive rates for mortality were less than 5% for epileptiform or nonreactive early electroencephalography, nonreactive late electroencephalography, absent somatosensory-evoked potential, absent pupillary or corneal reflexes, presence of myoclonus, and neuron-specific enolase greater than 75 µg/L; accuracy was highest for early electroencephalography reactivity (86.6%; 95% CI, 82.6-90.0). Early highly malignant electroencephalography had an false positive rate of 1.5% with accuracy of 85.7% (95% CI, 81.7-89.2%). This study provides class III evidence that electroencephalography reactivity predicts both poor and good outcomes, and motor reaction good outcome after cardiac arrest. Electroencephalography reactivity seems to be the best discriminator between good and poor outcomes. Standardized electroencephalography interpretation seems to predict both conditions during and after targeted temperature management

Estimated GFR and the Effect of Intensive Blood Pressure Lowering after Acute Intracerebral Hemorrhage

Background: The kidney-brain interaction has been a topic of growing interest. Past studies of the effect of kidney function on intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) outcomes have yielded inconsistent findings. Although the second, main phase of the Intensive Blood Pressure Reduction in Acute Cerebral Hemorrhage Trial (INTERACT2) suggests the effectiveness of early intensive blood pressure (BP) lowering in improving functional recovery after ICH, the balance of potential benefits and harms of this treatment in those with decreased kidney function remains uncertain. Study Design: Secondary analysis of INTERACT2, which randomly assigned patients with ICH with elevated systolic BP (SBP) to intensive (target SBP 90, 60-90, and <60 mL/min/1.73 m2, respectively). Outcomes: The effect of admission eGFR on the primary outcome of death or major disability at 90 days (defined as modified Rankin Scale scores of 3-6) was analyzed using a multivariable logistic regression model. Potential effect modification of intensive BP lowering treatment by admission eGFR was assessed by interaction terms. Results: Of 2,623 included participants, 912 (35%) and 280 (11%) had mildly and moderately/severely decreased eGFRs, respectively. Patients with moderately/severely decreased eGFRs had the greatest risk for death or major disability at 90 days (adjusted OR, 1.82; 95% CI, 1.28-2.61). Effects of early intensive BP lowering were consistent across different eGFRs (P = 0.5 for homogeneity). Limitations: Generalizability issues arising from a clinical trial population. Conclusions: Decreased eGFR predicts poor outcome in acute ICH. Early intensive BP lowering provides similar treatment effects in patients with ICH with decreased eGFRs

Supplementary Material for: Symptomatic Intracranial Hemorrhage following Intravenous Thrombolysis for Acute Ischemic Stroke: A Critical Review of Case Definitions

<b><i>Background:</i></b> Symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (SICH) is a devastating complication of intravenous thrombolysis treatment that is associated with high mortality. Clinical trials, stroke registries and cohort studies employ different case definitions to identify stroke patients with SICH following intravenous thrombolysis. We systematically reviewed the reported rates of SICH following intravenous thrombolysis and compared their consistency with mortality outcomes. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> Studies were identified from the PubMed and Embase databases from January 1994 to July 2011 by cross-referencing the following MeSH terms: ‘thrombolysis’, ‘recombinant tissue plasminogen activator’, ‘rtPA’, ‘hemorrhagic stroke’, ‘cerebral hemorrhage’, ‘hematoma’ and ‘ischemic stroke’. Demographic information, baseline National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) scores, time from stroke onset to intravenous thrombolysis, SICH and mortality rates were derived from published data in 7 randomized controlled trials, 7 stroke registries and 10 cohort studies (4 multicenter and 6 single center) with more than 200 consecutively recruited patients. Mortality rates were considered as the percentage of patients treated with intravenous thrombolysis who died within 90 days after stroke. <b><i>Results:</i></b> The mean age of patients included in this analysis was 68.8 years (standard deviation, SD 2.9, range 63–75), of whom 56.3% (SD 4.5, range 45–63) were men. They presented with a mean baseline NIHSS of 12.5 (SD 1.4, range 9–15) and received intravenous thrombolysis 175 min (SD 62, range 120–328) from stroke onset. The overall mean SICH and mortality rates of patients treated with intravenous thrombolysis were 5.6% (SD 2.3) and 14.7% (SD 4.8), respectively. A moderate correlation was observed between the incidence of SICH and mortality in patients treated with intravenous thrombolysis (r = 0.401, p = 0.050). The variation in SICH rates was highest across studies that reported SICH rates using the Safe Implementation of Thrombolysis in Stroke-Monitoring Study (SITS-MOST) criteria compared with the European Cooperative Acute Stroke Study and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) criteria. Studies that defined SICH as parenchymal hemorrhage with a neurological decline NIHSS ≥4 occurring within 36 h of intravenous thrombolysis reported a higher consistency between SICH and mortality rates (correlation coefficient 0.631). <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> SICH rates vary considerably between studies and these differences may relate to the differences in the criteria used to define SICH. Until a case definition with high interrater agreement and good correlation with stroke outcomes becomes available, detailed information on the type of bleeding, the extent of NIHSS deterioration, neuroimaging features and the time from thrombolysis to diagnosis of hemorrhage should be reported to permit a correct interpretation of SICH rates

Supplementary Material for: Asymptomatic Carotid Stenosis: Risk of Progression and Development of Symptoms

<b><i>Background:</i></b> The aim of this study is to evaluate the rate of progression of stenosis and development of symptoms in patients with asymptomatic carotid artery stenosis (aCAS) treated with contemporary medical therapy over a prolonged time interval. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> This study is a retrospective review of consecutive patients diagnosed with moderate or severe aCAS at our institution between 2000 and 2001. Data were gathered from both carotid arteries for each patient excluding vessels operated within 1 year of diagnosis and occlusions. Multivariate analysis was performed to analyze factors associated with ipsilateral transient ischemic attack (TIA)/stroke. <b><i>Results:</i></b> We identified 214 patients (58.8% men; median age 70 years) and collected data on 349 vessels. Degree of stenosis was severe (>70%) upon diagnosis in 92 (26.4%) vessels. Median length of follow-up was 13 years (interquartile range 10-14), and mean number of time points for follow-up imaging were 8.1 ± 3.9. Progression of stenosis was observed in 237 (67.9%) vessels, and 72 (20.6%) patients developed symptoms ipsilateral to the stenosis (TIA in 14.4%, non-disabling stroke in 4%, disabling stroke in 2.2%). Median time to appearance of first symptom was 6 years (range 1-13). On multivariate analysis, degree of baseline stenosis, intracranial stenosis >50%, plaque ulceration, silent infarction and previous history of TIA/stroke were associated with ipsilateral TIA/stroke, but progression of stenosis was not. <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> There was a substantial rate of progression of stenosis in patients with aCAS over time despite adequate medical therapy, but progression of stenosis did not increase the risk of ipsilateral TIA/stroke. Over long-term follow-up, 1 in 5 patients with aCAS developed ipsilateral TIA/stroke, though most events were either transient or non-disabling

Paroxysmal atrial fibrillation in cryptogenic stroke: A case-control study

10.1016/j.jstrokecerebrovasdis.2013.05.013Journal of Stroke and Cerebrovascular Diseases2281405-1411JSCD