[Assessment of neurologic prognosis after cardiac arrest. Updated recommendations from the Swedish CPR Council Expert...

Assessment of neurologic prognosis after cardiac arrest. Updated recommendations from the Swedish CPR Council Expert Group European Resuscitation Council (ERC) issued updated guidelines for postresuscitation care in 2015. This paper provides updated Swedish recommendations for neurological prognostication of patients remaining unconscious after cardiac arrest (CA). The prognostication should be based on independent methods; clinical and neurophysiological examinations, imaging and biomarkers. It should not be performed earlier than three days after CA and any influence from sedatives must be negligible. Bilateral absence of both corneal and pupillary reflexes and bilaterally absent Somatosensory Evoked N20 Potentials (SSEP) at 72 hours are reliable predictors of poor outcome but the ocular reflexes have limited sensitivity and SSEP has limited availability. Hence, further delay of at least 24 hours and combinations of findings from multiple methods are often needed for reliable prognostication.  If firm evidence of a poor prognosis is lacking four days after CA, further expectation with repeated examinations is recommended.