[Neuro-electrophysiological characteristics of patients with primary brainstem hemorrhage]

Objective: To investigate the neuro-electrophysiological characteristics of patients with primary brain stem hemorrhage (PBSH). Methods: This is a retrospective case series study. The clinical data of 17 PBSH patients with Glasgow coma score 3 to 8 points who were admitted to the Department of Neurosurgery, Xiangya Hospital of Central South University from January 2022 to December 2023 were retrospectively analyzed. There were 14 males and 3 females, with an age(M (IQR)) of 46.0(14.0) years (range: 18.0 to 70.0 years).All patients underwent electro-physiological monitoring within 28 days after the onset of the disease. According to Glasgow outcome scale(GOS) 6 months after onset, PBSH patients were divided into two groups: unregained consciousness group with (GOS 1 to 2 points, 13 cases) and regained consciousness group (GOS 3 to 5 points, 4 cases). The neuro-electrophysiological indicators involved in this study included short latency somosensory evoked potential (SLSEP) component N20, brainstem auditory evoked potential (BAEP), electroencephalogram (EEG) background activity, EEG reactivity (EEG-R), EEG sleep structure waves, absolute amplitude of N1 at electrode Fz (FzN1A) and Cz (CzN1A), respectively, absolute amplitude of mismatch negativity at electrode Fz (FzMMNA) and Cz (CzMMNA), respectively. Then, the Fisher exact probability test and Mann Whitney U test were used for counting data and measurement data, respectively, to analyze the differences of neuro-electrophysiological indicators between the two groups. Results: The EEG background activity of 17 PBSH patients was mainly α-mode, α-θ mode and θ mode. Four patients with α-mode, 3 of whom regained consciousness (all with EEG-R). There were 3 patients with α-θ pattern. And 5 patients with θ pattern, 2 of whom died. Five patients with background EEG activity of delta pattern had poor prognosis, of which 4 patients died and 1 patient survived but did not regain consciousness 6 months after onset. SLSEP component N20 were absent bilaterally in 12 cases and BAEP in 5 cases. FzN1A and CzN1A were not extracted in 4 cases, and FzMMNA and CzMMNA were not extracted in 6 cases. The study showed that BAEP, EEG background activity, EEG-R, FzN1A, CzN1A, FzMMNA and CzMMNA were different between the two groups (all P<0.05), while there was no difference between N20 and EEG sleep structure (all P>0.05). Conclusion: The neuro-electrophysiological indicators including BAEP, EEG background activity, EEG-R, FzN1A, CzN1A, FzMMNA, and CzMMNA may be related to whether PBSH patients can regain consciousness 6 months after onset, and it is best to combine multiple indicators for comprehensive analysis in clinical practice.