The investigators placed two multimodal, intracranial monitoring probes in the right frontal lobe of eight patients, and found that they could detect delayed, secondary brain injuries in six patients resulting from seizures, hypoglycemia, hypotension, hypoxia, or hyperventilation as late as 96 hours after cardiac arrest.
Only one patient survived to discharge and could follow commands. Three were discharged alive in coma, and four patients died.
Further research is needed to determine whether prevention or detection of these secondary insults might improve clinical outcomes, Dr. Mayer said.
Disclosures: Dr. Patel and Dr. Horn said they have no pertinent conflicts of interest. Dr. Rittenberger has received research funds from and spoken at conferences sponsored by Zoll Medical Corp. (which makes cardiac resuscitation devices and automated external defibrillators) and was an unpaid member of the steering committee for one of the company’s trials. Dr. Mayer has received honoraria for lectures from Medivance, which makes therapeutic hypothermia devices, and Zoll Circulation, a subsidiary of Zoll Medical.