Cerebral Oximetry: The New Brain Monitor for Cardiac Arrest?

Can a noninvasive, real-time indicator of cerebral perfusion — regional brain oxygen saturation (rSO₂) — predict neurological outcomes in patients undergoing cardiac-arrest resuscitation? To find out, investigators conducted a prospective study of 672 unresponsive adult patients with nontraumatic out-of-hospital cardiac arrest who had rSO₂ measurements taken with a near-infrared spectrometer placed on the forehead within 3 minutes of arrival to emergency departments (EDs) at 13 hospitals in Japan.

Nearly three quarters of patients were pronounced dead in the ED (termination of resuscitation is not permitted in the field in Japan), 23% died after hospital admission, and 6% remained alive at 90 days.

Patients with good neurological outcomes at …