EEG burst-suppression (BS) heralds poor outcome after cardiac arrest (CA). Within this pattern, identical bursts (IB) have been suggested to be absolutely specific, in isolation. We assessed IB prevalence and their added predictive value for poor outcome in a multimodal prognostic approach.
We retrospectively analyzed a registry of comatose adults with CA (April 2011-February 2019), undergoing EEG at 5-36 h and 36-72 h. SB and IB were visually assessed. Cerebral Performance Categories (CPC) at 3 months were dichotomized as "good" (CPC 1-2), or "poor" (CPC 3-5). Sensitivity, specificity, positive, negative predictive values of BS and IB for poor outcome were calculated. A multimodal prognostic score was created assigning one point each to unreactive and epileptiform EEG, pupillary light reflex and SSEPs absence, NSE > 75 μg/l. In a second score, IB were added; predictive performances were compared using Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves.
Of 522 patients, 147 (28%) had BS in any EEG (10 [7%] had good outcome and 129 [88%] died). Of them, 53/147 (36%, 10% of total) showed IB, 47/53 (89%) of which within 36 h. IB were 100% specific for poor outcome, and associated with higher serum NSE than BS. However, there was no significant difference between the scores with and without IB for CPC 3-5 (p = 0.116).
IB occur in 10% of patients after CA. In our multimodal context, IB, albeit being very specific for poor outcome, seem redundant with other predictors.