Routine laboratory indices as predictor of neurological recovery in post-resuscitation syndrome patients treated with therapeutic hypothermia

Background: Hypothermia is associated with improved outcome in selected survivors of cardiac arrest but no single metric enables proper prediction of neurological outcome. Objectives: To explored the association between routine laboratory indices of patients treated by hypothermia for cardiac arrest and their neurological outcome. Methods: We retrospectively collected data from survivors of cardiac arrest treated with hypothermia for 24 hours and grouped them according to their neurological outcome, either “poor” or ”favorable”. Routine laboratory indices were collected at constant time intervals up to 1 week after admission. A comparison between the laboratory values of both groups was performed. Results: The study group comprised 41 consecutive patients with a mean age of 54.3 ± 16.7 years who experienced cardiac arrest between May 2008 and November 2011. No significant correlation was found between routine laboratory indices and neurological outcomes. The temporal trend of decay in the serum glucose values and the ratio of polymorphonuclears to white blood cells during the first 72 hours after admission was steeper in the favorable outcome group (P for trend < 0.05). Conclusions: No single routine laboratory index was associated with neurological outcome of survivors of cardiac arrest treated with hypothermia. The temporal trends in both serum glucose and polymorphonuclear ratio signaled a more intense inflammatory response associated with poor outcome.