Abstract
Cardiac arrest (CA) is a well-known cause of global brain ischemia. After CA and subsequent loss of consciousness, oxygen tension starts to decline and leads to a series of cellular changes that will lead to cellular death, if not reversed immediately, with brain edema as a result. The electroencephalographic activity starts to change as well. Although increased intracranial pressure (ICP) is not a direct result of cardiac arrest, it can still occur due to hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy induced changes in brain tissue, and is a measure of brain edema after CA and ischemic brain injury. In this review, we will discuss the pathophysiology of brain edema after CA, some available techniques, and methods to monitor brain oxygen, electroencephalography (EEG), ICP (intracranial pressure), and microdialysis on its measurement of cerebral metabolism and its usefulness both in clinical practice and possible basic science research in development. With this review, we hope to gain knowledge of the more personalized information about patient status and specifics of their brain injury, and thus facilitating the physicians’ decision making in terms of which treatments to pursue.
Highlights
Cardiac arrest (CA) has a yearly incidence of approximately 50–110 per 100,000 people worldwide [1] and has become a leading cause of coma and admission to the intensive care unit (ICU)
The PubMed search for this review focused on original articles, review papers and clinical trials published in peer-reviewed journals; there are several challenges in identifying the exact intracranial events after cardiac arrest
In order to minimize and exclude these effects in this review, we primarily focused on stroke-models like global hypoxia-ischemia and oxygen deprived cell line studies
Summary
Cardiac arrest (CA) has a yearly incidence of approximately 50–110 per 100,000 people worldwide [1] and has become a leading cause of coma and admission to the intensive care unit (ICU). Some data support the continued value of autopsy in spite of medical diagnostic advancements because they serve to increase the accuracy of death certificates, enhance identification of emerging or reemerging pathogens/disease, and provide an educational format for clinicians, pathologists, and students [5]. Another challenge is the large heterogeneity in the populations of humans ending up with cardiac arrest, which makes choosing a representative experimental model of cardiac arrest difficult. We involved and cited the clinical trials whose targeted population has a diagnosis of cardiac arrest with various etiologies
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
