We examined whether combining biomarkers measurements and brain images early after the return of spontaneous circulation improves prognostic performance compared with the use of either biomarkers or brain images for patients with cardiac arrest following target temperature management (TTM). This retrospective observational study involved comatose out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survivors. We analyzed neuron-specific enolase levels in serum (NSE) or cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), grey-to-white matter ratio by brain computed tomography, presence of high signal intensity (HSI) in diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), and voxel-based apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC). Of the 58 patients, 33 (56.9%) had poor neurologic outcomes. CSF NSE levels showed better prognostic performance (area under the curve (AUC) 0.873, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.749–0.950) than serum NSE levels (AUC 0.792, 95% CI 0.644–0.888). HSI in DWI showed the best prognostic performance (AUC 0.833, 95% CI 0.711–0.919). Combining CSF NSE levels and HSI in DWI had better prognostic performance (AUC 0.925, 95% CI 0.813–0.981) than each individual method, followed by the combination of serum NSE levels and HSI on DWI and that of CSF NSE levels and the percentage of voxels of ADC (AUC 0.901, 95% CI 0.792–0.965; AUC 0.849, 95% CI 0.717–0.935, respectively). Combining CSF/serum NSE levels and HSI in DWI before TTM improved the prognostic performance compared to either each individual method or other combinations.

This study aimed to determine whether accuracy and sensitivity concerning neurological prognostic performance increased for survivors of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) treated with targeted temperature management (TTM), using OHCA and cardiac arrest hospital prognosis (CAHP) scores and modified objective variables. We retrospectively analyzed non-traumatic OHCA survivors treated with TTM. The primary outcome was poor neurological outcome at 3 months after return of spontaneous circulation (cerebral performance category, 3–5). We compared neurological prognostic performance using existing models after adding objective data obtained before TTM from computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and biomarkers to replace the no-flow time component of the OHCA and CAHP models. Among 106 patients, 61 (57.5%) had poor neurologic outcomes. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curve for the OHCA and CAHP models was 0.89 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.81–0.94) and 0.90 (95% CI 0.82–0.95), respectively. The prediction of poor neurological outcome improved after replacing no-flow time with a grey/white matter ratio measured using CT, high-signal intensity (HSI) on diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI), percentage of voxel using apparent diffusion coefficient value, and serum neuron-specific enolase levels. When replaced with HSI on DWI, the AUROC and sensitivity of the OHCA and CAHP models were 0.96 and 74.5% and 0.97 and 83.8%, respectively (100% specificity). Prognoses concerning neurologic outcomes improved compared with existing OHCA and CAHP models by adding new objective variables to replace no-flow time. External validation is required to generalize these results in various contexts.

We aimed to investigate intracranial pressure (ICP) changes over time and the neurologic prognosis for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) survivors who received targeted temperature management (TTM). ICP was measured immediately after return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) (day 1), then at 24 h (day 2), 48 h (day 3), and 72 h (day 4), through connecting a lumbar drain catheter to a manometer or a LiquoGuard machine. Neurological outcomes were determined at 3 months after ROSC, and a poor neurological outcome was defined as Cerebral Performance Category 3–5. Of the 91 patients in this study (males, n = 67, 74%), 51 (56%) had poor neurological outcomes. ICP was significantly higher in the poor outcome group at each time point except day 4. ICP elevation was highest between days 2 and 3 in the good outcome group, and between days 1 and 2 in the poor outcome group. However, there was no difference in total ICP elevation between the poor and good outcome groups (3.0 vs. 3.1; p = 0.476). All OHCA survivors who had received TTM had elevated ICP, regardless of neurologic prognosis. However, the changing pattern of ICP levels differed depending on the neurological outcome.