Background Decreases in heart rate variability have been shown to be associated with poor outcomes in severe acute brain injury. However, it is unknown whether the changes in heart rate variability precede neurological deterioration in such patients. We explored the changes in heart rate variability measured by electrocardiography in patients who had neurological deterioration following severe acute brain injury, and examined the relationship between heart rate variability and electroencephalography parameters.
Methods Retrospective analysis of 25 patients who manifested neurological deterioration after severe acute brain injury and underwent simultaneous electroencephalography plus electrocardiography monitoring.
Results Eighteen electroencephalography channels and one simultaneously recorded electrocardiography channel were segmented into epochs of 120-second duration and processed to compute 10 heart rate variability parameters and three quantitative electroencephalography parameters. Raw electroencephalography of the epochs was also assessed by standardized visual interpretation and categorized based on their background abnormalities and ictalinterictal continuum patterns. The heart rate variability and electroencephalography parameters showed consistent changes in the 2-day period before neurological deterioration commenced. Remarkably, the suppression ratio and background abnormality of the electroencephalography parameters had significant reverse correlations with all heart rate variability parameters.
Conclusions We observed a significantly progressive decline in heart rate variability from the day before the neurological deterioration events in patients with severe acute brain injury were first observed.
Citations
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Association of Depressive and Somatic Symptoms with Heart Rate Variability in Patients with Traumatic Brain Injury Seung Don Yoo, Eo Jin Park Journal of Clinical Medicine.2022; 12(1): 104. CrossRef
Influencing Cardiovascular Outcomes through Heart Rate Variability Modulation: A Systematic Review Alexandru Burlacu, Crischentian Brinza, Iolanda Valentina Popa, Adrian Covic, Mariana Floria Diagnostics.2021; 11(12): 2198. CrossRef
Background Coronary artery stenosis increases hospital mortality and leads to poor neurological recovery in cardiac arrest (CA) patients. However, electrocardiography (ECG) cannot fully predict the presence of coronary artery stenosis in CA patients. Hence, we aimed to determine whether regional wall motion abnormality (RWMA), as observed by two-dimensional echocardiography (2DE), predicted patient survival outcomes with greater accuracy than did ST segment elevation (STE) on ECG in CA patients who underwent coronary angiography (CAG) after return of spontaneous circulation.
Methods This was a retrospective observational study of adult patients with CA of presumed cardiac etiology who underwent CAG at a single tertiary care hospital. We investigated whether RWMA observed on 2DE predicted patient outcomes more accurately than did STE observed on ECG. The primary outcome was incidence of hospital mortality. The secondary outcomes were Glasgow-Pittsburgh Cerebral Performance Category scores measured 6 months after discharge and significant coronary artery stenosis on CAG.
Results Among the 145 patients, 36 (24.8%) experienced in-hospital death. In multivariable analysis of survival outcomes, only total arrest time (P=0.011) and STE (P=0.035) were significant. The odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI), which were obtained by adjusting the total arrest time for survival outcomes, were significant only for STE (OR, 0.40; 95% CI, 0.17–0.94). The presence of RWMA was not a significant factor.
Conclusions While STE predicted survival outcomes in adult CA patients, RWMA did not. The decision to perform CAG after CA should include ECG under existing guidelines. The use of RWMA has limited benefits in treatment of this population.
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Just the Facts: Management of return of spontaneous circulation after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest Hashim Kareemi, Ariel Hendin, Christian Vaillancourt Canadian Journal of Emergency Medicine.2023; 25(7): 580. CrossRef