Routine Laboratory Indices as Predictor of Neurological Recovery in Post-Resuscitation Syndrome Patients Treated with Therapeutic Hypothermia.

BACKGROUND: Hypothermia is associated with improved outcome in selected survivors of cardiac arrest but no single metric enables proper prediction of neurological outcome.

OBJECTIVES: To explored the association between routine laboratory indices of patients treated by hypothermia for cardiac arrest and their neurological outcome.

METHODS: We retrospectively collected data from survivors of cardiac arrest treated with hypothermia for 24 hours and grouped them according to their neurological outcome to either "poor" or "favorable". Routine laboratory indices were collected at constant time intervals up to one week of admission. A comparison between the laboratory values in both groups was performed.

RESULTS: Between May 2008 to November 2011, 41 consecutive patients with a mean age of 54.3 ± 16.7 years were included in this study. No significant correlation was found between routine laboratory indices and the neurological outcome. The temporal trend of decay in the serum glucose values and the ratio of polymorphonuclears to white blood cells during the first 72 hours after admission was steeper in the favorable outcome group (P for trend < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS: No single routine laboratory index was associated with neurological outcome of survivors of cardiac arrest treated with hypothermia. The temporal trends in both serum glucose and polymorphonuclear ratio signal a more intense inflammatory response associated with poor outcome.