EEG is increasingly used for monitoring patients in the ICU, including prognostication of postanoxic coma after cardiac arrest. In the last decade, we and others have shown that in particular early EEG recordings (i.e. obtained < 24 h after arrest) are most relevant for prognostication.
Early EEG for neurological prognostication of postanoxic coma in the ICU (Presentation at the ICCN, 2024).
I discuss the pathophysiology of postanoxic coma (synaptic arrest, electrical phenomena (including the wave of death), and cell swelling. I then discuss why the EEG is an excellent tool for assessing the severity of postanoxic damage and evaluating potential recovery from neuronal dysfunction.
EEGTeaching 