Maximizing Computed Tomography in Assessing Neurological Prognosis After Cardiac Arrest

With cardiac arrest (CA) the lack of brain circulation soon leads to energy failure in neurons, anoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (AIE). The decreased function of the ATP-driven sodium-potassium pump soon leads to ionic/cytotoxic edema1, which is detected on CT as swelling of grey matter structures and on MRI as increased signal on diffusion-weighted imaging and decreased apparent diffusion coefficient2 Various parts of the brain show different susceptibility and speed of evolution of neuronal swelling and death; thus timing of imaging is potentially important.
Source: Resuscitation - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Tags: Editorial Source Type: research