Prognostic value of electroencephalography (EEG) for brain injury after cardiopulmonary resuscitation

Cardiac arrest (CA) patients can experience neurological sequelae or even death after successful cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) due to cerebral hypoxia- and ischemia–reperfusion-mediated brain injury. Thus, it is important to perform early prognostic evaluations in CA patients. Electroencephalography (EEG) is an important tool for determining the prognosis of hypoxic–ischemic encephalopathy due to its real-time measurement of brain function. Based on EEG, burst suppression, a burst suppression ratio >0.239, periodic discharges, status epilepticus, stimulus-induced rhythmic, periodic or ictal discharges, non-reactive EEG, and the BIS value based on quantitative EEG may be associated with the prognosis of CA after successful CPR. As measures of neural network integrity, the values of small-world characteristics of the neural network derived from EEG patterns have potential applications.