Neuroprognostication Bias: A Collaboration to Reduce the Impact of Self-fulfilling Prophecy in Cardiac ARrEst

Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death in the United States. Mortality rates of cardiac arrest range from 60-85%, and approximately 80% of survivors are initially comatose. Of those who survive, 50% are left with a permanent neurological disability, and only 10% are able to resume their former lifestyle. Early prognosis of comatose patients after cardiac arrest is critical for management of these patients, yet predicting outcome for these patients remains quite challenging. The primary study objective of SPARE is to assess the value of using a systematic, multi-modal approach for neuroprognostication in the unconscious post-cardiac arrest population. We hypothesize that prognostication using this approach will be significantly improved compared to historical controls. This approach will be novel because: All patients who are unconscious at least 24 hours post-cardiac arrest, whereas previous studies on neurologic outcome tended to have restrictive inclusion criteria, such as no pre-existing neurologic impairment (e.g. dementia or prior cerebrovascular injury), or included an unduly restrictive population, such as patients with a strictly comatose state. The prognostic modalities used to assess patients will be applied at specific time points that will maximize their utility. Patients' families and clinicians will be encouraged to provide adequate time to allow for a delayed recovery, especially in cases of uncertain outcome, thus minimizing the self-ful…

This description comes directly from the study's public registry record.

David M Greer, MD MA  ·  (617) 638-5102  ·  dgreer@bu.edu

Rebecca Stafford, BA  ·  617-414-2422  ·  Rebecca.Stafford@bmc.org

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