Feasibility of bispectral index monitoring to guide early post-resuscitation cardiac arrest triage.

INTRODUCTION: Triage after resuscitation from cardiac arrest is hindered by reliable early estimation of brain injury. We evaluated the performance of a triage model based on early bispectral index (BIS) findings and cardiac risk classes. METHODS: Retrospective evaluation of serial patients resuscitated from cardiac arrest, unable to follow commands, and undergoing hypothermia. Patients were assigned to a cardiac risk group: STEMI, VT/VF shock, VT/VF no shock, or PEA/asystole, and to a neurological dysfunction group, based on the BIS score following first neuromuscular blockade (BISi), and classified as BISi\u3e20, BISi 10-20, or BISi RESULTS: BISi in 171 patients was measured at 267(±177)min after resuscitation and 35(±1.7)°C. BISi82% neurological-cause and 91% overall mortality, BISi 10-20 35% neurological and 55% overall mortality, and BISi\u3e20 12% neurological and 36% overall mortality. 33 patients presented with STEMI, 15 VT/VF-shock, 41 VT/VF-no shock, and 80 PEA/asystole. Among BISi\u3e20 patients, 75% with STEMI underwent urgent cardiac catheterization (cath) and 94% had good outcome. When BISi\u3e20 with VT/VF and shock, urgent cath was infrequent (33%), and 4 deaths (44%) were uniformly of circulatory etiology. Of 56 VT/VF patients without STEMI, 24 were BISi\u3e20 but did not undergo urgent cath - 5(20.8%) of these had circulatory-etiology death. Circulatory-etiology death also occurred in 26.5% BIS\u3e20 patients with PEA/asystole. When BISi CONCLUSIONS: Neurocardiac triage based on very early processed EEG (BIS) is feasible, and may identify patients appropriate for individualized post-resuscitation care. This and other triage models warrant further study