Methylphenidate and amantadine to stimulate reawakening in comatose patients resuscitated from cardiac arrest

Background

Despite critical-care packages including therapeutic hypothermia (TH), neurologic injury is common after cardiac arrest (CA) resuscitation. Methylphenidate and amantadine have treated coma in traumatically-brain-injured patients with mixed success, but have not been explored in post-arrest patients.

Objective

Compare the outcome of comatose post-arrest patients treated with neurostimulants to a matched cohort.

Methods

Retrospective cohort study from 6/2008 to 12/2011 in a tertiary university hospital. We included adult patients treated with methylphenidate or amantadine after resuscitation from in-hospital or out-of-hospital CA (OHCA) of any rhythm, excluding patients with traumatic/surgical etiology of arrest, terminal re-arrest within 6 h, or withdrawal of care by family within 6 h. Primary outcome was following commands; secondary outcomes included survival to hospital discharge, cerebral performance category (CPC), and modified Rankin scale (mRS). We compared characteristics and outcomes to a control cohort matched on TH and 72 h FOUR score ± 1.

Results

Of 588 patients, 8 received methylphenidate, 6 received amantadine, and 2 both. Most were female suffering OHCA with median age 61 years. All received TH and a multi-modal neurological evaluation. Initial exam revealed median GCS 6 and FOUR 7, which was unchanged at 72 h. Six patients (38%) followed commands prior to discharge at median 2.5 days (range: 1–18 days) after treatment. Patients receiving neurostimulants trended toward improved rate of following commands, survival to hospital discharge, and distribution of CPC and mRS scores.

Conclusions

Neurostimulants may be considered to stimulate wakefulness in selected post-cardiac arrest patients, but a prospective trial is needed to evaluate this therapy.