Objective: We investigated predictors of survival and the neurological outcomes of neurosurgical patients who experienced cardiac arrest and received cardiopulmonary resuscitation after being admitted to the neurosurgical intensive care unit.
Methods: A retrospective study was conducted of adult patients in the neurosurgical intensive care unit who had experienced cardiac arrest and received cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Factors relevant to the cardiac arrest (before and after arrest) were used to study association with survival (immediate or short-term) and neurological outcome (unconscious or conscious) via statistical methods.
Results: Immediate survival was seen in 105 patients (49%), 19 survived until hospital discharge, and 11 were still alive at the conclusion of this study. Of the immediate survivors, 41 patients were conscious and 64 were unconscious. Multivariate analysis showed increased mortality in patients with infection, asystole, or resuscitation time exceeding 30 minutes (P < 0.05). Additional factors associated with high in-hospital mortality included lack of spontaneous respiration, no caloric-vestibular reflex, and unconsciousness after resuscitation (P < 0.05). In addition, neurological recovery was poor in patients with infection, asystole, no caloric-vestibular reflex, conscious recovery, or resuscitation lasting more than 30 minutes (P < 0.05).
Conclusion: Even after initially successful resuscitation, survival and neurological recovery is quite dismal in patients with cerebral lesions. Prognostic factors for neurosurgical patients should be assessed on an individual basis to determine medical futility in the early post-resuscitation period.