Reply to Pang et al.: “Early detection of brain death using the Bispectral Index (BIS) in patients treated by extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (E-CPR) for refractory cardiac arrest”

We thank Dr. Pang et al. [1] for their interest and their relevant comments about our article [2]. As they underlined in their letter [1], during therapeutic hypothermia, there is a vaso-constriction and shivering, that result in skin breakdown and increased oxygen consumption [3], the latest being prevented by anesthetics and sedatives infusion. In the particular context of post-cardiac arrest, the aim of anesthetics and sedatives infusion is also to protect the brain against secondary aggression due to the occurrence of the ischemia-reperfusion syndrome during the first 6h following a brain injury, which involves mitochondrial dysfunction, reactive oxygen species overproduction and neuro excitotoxicity phenomenon ’s [4,5].
Source: Resuscitation - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Tags: Letter to the Editor Source Type: research