Neurocritical care
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Sedation and therapeutic hypothermia (TH) delay neurological responses and might reduce the accuracy of clinical examination to predict outcome after cardiac arrest (CA). We examined the accuracy of quantitative pupillary light reactivity (PLR), using an automated infrared pupillometry, to predict outcome of post-CA coma in comparison to standard PLR, EEG, and somato-sensory evoked potentials (SSEP). ⋯ Quantitative PLR is more accurate than standard PLR in predicting outcome of post-anoxic coma, irrespective of temperature and sedation, and has comparable prognostic accuracy than EEG and SSEP.
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Case Reports
Neurologist Versus Machine: Is the Pupillometer Better than the Naked Eye in Detecting Pupillary Reactivity.
A 62-year-old man with severe traumatic brain injury developed postsurgical anisocoria in which there was a discrepancy between pupillometer and manual testing. ⋯ While pupillometry assessment is a valuable adjunct to the manual pupillary assessment, this case demonstrates that nonreactive pupils read on the pupillometer should be confirmed with the manual examination because it can miss very slowly reacting pupils.
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The vascular wall tension (WT) of small cerebral vessels can be quantitatively estimated through the concept of critical closing pressure (CrCP), which denotes the lower limit of arterial blood pressure (ABP), below which small cerebral arterial vessels collapse and blood flow ceases. WT can be expressed as the difference between CrCP and intracranial pressure (ICP) and represent active vasomotor tone. In this study, we investigated the association of WT and CrCP with autoregulation and outcome of a large group of patients after traumatic brain injury (TBI). ⋯ Impaired autoregulation was found to be associated with a lower WT supporting the role of vasoparalysis in the loss of autoregulatory capacity. In contrast, no links between CrCP and autoregulation could be identified.
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Increased intracranial pressure (ICP) is associated with worse outcomes following traumatic brain injury (TBI). Studies have confirmed that ICP is correlated with optic nerve sheath diameter (ONSD) on ultrasound. The aim of our study was to assess the independent relationship between ONSD measured using CT and mortality in a population of patients admitted with severe TBI. ⋯ In patients with TBI, ONSD measured on CT scanning was independently associated with ICP and mortality.
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Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is common following aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), but the influence of mechanical ventilator settings on its development is unclear. We sought to determine adherence to lung protective thresholds in ventilated patients with SAH and describe the association between ventilator settings and subsequent development of ARDS. ⋯ Patients with SAH requiring mechanical ventilation frequently breathe spontaneously, generating tidal volumes above usual protective thresholds regardless of meeting ARDS criteria. In patients with SAH, the presence of an additional ARDS risk factor should prompt close screening for the development of ARDS and consideration of adjustment of ventilator settings to meet lung protective thresholds.