Duration and clinical features of cardiac arrest predict early severe cerebral edema

Severe brain edema appears early after cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in a subset of patients and portends a poor prognosis. We tested whether clinical features of patients or resuscitation during out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) are associated with early, severe cerebral edema. We reviewed pre-hospital and hospital records for comatose patients surviving to hospital admission after OHCA who had computed tomography (CT) of brain at the time of hospital admission available for inspection. We measured the gray-white ratio (GWR) of X-ray attenuation between the caudate nucleus and posterior limb of the internal capsule, defining severe cerebral edema as GWR 40 min of CPR. CPR duration along with easily measurable clinical and resuscitation characteristics predict early severe cerebral edema after OHCA. Future interventional trials should consider targeting or preventing cerebral edema after prolonged hypoxic-ischemic brain injury especially in patients with high risk clinical features.