The association of findings on brain computed tomography with neurologic outcomes following extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation

BACKGROUND: Limited data are available on imaging predictors of neurological outcomes after extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (ECPR). We investigated the association of initial brain computed tomography (CT) findings with neurological outcomes following ECPR. METHODS: Between February 2005 and December 2015, a total of 42 patients who underwent brain CT scans within 48 h after ECPR were analyzed. Loss of the boundary between gray matter and white matter (LOB) or cortical sulcal effacement (SE), gray-to-white matter ratio (GWR), and optic nerve sheath diameter (ONSD) were measured on initial brain CT. The primary outcome was the Cerebral Performance Categories (CPC) scale at discharge. RESULTS: Of the 42 adult ECPR patients, 23 (54.8%) patients survived to discharge and 19 (45.2%) patients had good neurological outcomes (CPC 1 and 2). The area under the curve (AUC) of GWR in the basal ganglia (GWR-BG) was 0.792 (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.639–0.901, p = 0.001). ONSD (AUC 0.745; 95% CI, 0.587 – 0.867, p = 0.007) was 5.57 (interquartile range (IQR) 5.14 – 5.98) mm in the good neurological outcome group versus 6.07 (IQR 5.71 – 6.64) mm in the poor outcome group. LOB or SE were more often detected in the poor neurological outcome group (AUC 0.817; 95% CI, 0.682–0.952, p <0.001). The predictive performance of poor neurological outcomes of a composite of GWR-BG, ONSD, and LOB/SE was significantly improved (AUC 0.904; 95% CI, 0.773–0.973) compared to when each brain CT marker was considered separately (GWR-BG, p = 0.048; ONSD, p = 0.026; LOB/SE, p = 0.028). CONCLUSIONS: GWR, ONSD, and LOB/SE on initial brain CT scans are associated with neurological prognosis in patients who underwent ECPR. The new risk prediction model, which uses a composite of GWR, ONCD, and LOB/SE, could provide better information on neurologic outcomes in patients underwent ECPR. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13054-017-1604-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.