Regional cerebral saturation in post-cardiac arrest patients is doomed … or is it just a near death experience?

One of the most challenging aspects in the treatment of a post-cardiac arrest patient is the assessment of the extent of brain damage, and its concomitant prognosis. Clinicians are continuously confronted with the optimistic expectations of relatives. Parameters that provide early prognostic information are highly desirable in the post-cardiac arrest setting since they would facilitate communication with relatives and would allow better triage of economically burdensome therapies. Reliable, practical measures of intra- and post-arrest neurologic function have potential to guide treatment geared toward reducing neurological damage and providing a basis for accurate prognostication.
Source: Resuscitation - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Tags: Editorial Source Type: research