Eye Blinking in Profound Postanoxic Coma with EEG Suppression

ABSTRACT.We report two cases of postanoxic coma resulting in generalized suppression of the EEG background and notable for the presence of frequent eye blinking. Various movements, including eye blinking, have been reported in burst-suppression EEG recordings in such patients. There have been, however, no previous reports of similar activity with generalized EEG suppression.The presence of blinking behavior in postanoxic coma suggests that, at least in some cases, the movements are the result of release of brainstem motor circuits from cortical inhibition. Although potentially misleading in the clinical setting, these movements do not appear to reflect any form of seizure activity and do not appear to alter the prognosis of postanoxic coma.