Early recovery of frontal EEG slow wave activity during propofol sedation predicts outcome after cardiac arrest

EEG slow wave activity (SWA) has shown prognostic potential in post-resuscitation care. In this prospective study, we investigated the accuracy of continuously measured early SWA for prediction of the outcome in comatose cardiac arrest (CA) survivors.

We recorded EEG with a disposable self-adhesive frontal electrode and wireless device continuously starting from ICU admission until 48 h from return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) in comatose CA survivors sedated with propofol. We determined SWA by offline calculation of C-Trend® Index describing SWA as a score ranging from 0 to 100. The functional outcome was defined based on Cerebral Performance Category (CPC) at 6 months after the CA to either good (CPC 1-2) or poor (CPC 3-5).

Outcome at six months was good in 67 of the 93 patients. During the first 12 h after ROSC, the median C-Trend Index value was 38.8 (interquartile range 28.0-56.1) in patients with good outcome and 6.49 (3.01-18.2) in those with poor outcome showing significant difference (p < 0.001) at every hour between the groups. The index values of the first 12 h predicted poor outcome with an area under curve of 0.86 (95% CI 0.61-0.99). With a cutoff value of 20, the sensitivity was 83.3% (69.6%-92.3%) and specificity 94.7% (83.4%-99.7%) for categorization of outcome.

EEG SWA measured with C-Trend Index during propofol sedation offers a promising practical approach for early bedside evaluation of recovery of brain function and prediction of outcome after CA.