Neuroimaging and serologic markers of neurologic injury after cardiac arrest

Determining prognosis in the setting of hypoxic-ischemic injury following cardiac arrest is difficult based solely on clinical parameters in the patient who is critically ill. The article discusses bio- chemical markers in the blood and in the cerebrospinal fluid that are evaluated for prognostic information, along with radiologic indicators of anoxic cerebral damage. It includes a recommended algorithm using a combination of serologic and radiologic markers of cerebral injury for assessing prognosis in the patient who is comatose following cardiac arrest.