Anisocoria After Direct Light Stimulus is Associated with Poor Outcomes Following Acute Brain Injury.

BACKGROUND: Assessing pupil size and reactivity is the standard of care in neurocritically ill patients. Anisocoria observed in critically ill patients often prompts further investigation and treatment. This study explores anisocoria at rest and after light stimulus determined using quantitative pupillometry as a predictor of discharge modified Rankin Scale (mRS) scores. METHODS: This analysis includes data from an international registry and includes patients with paired (left and right eye) quantitative pupillometry readings linked to discharge mRS scores. Anisocoria was defined as the absolute difference in pupil size using three common cut points (> 0.5 mm, > 1 mm, and > 2 mm). Nonparametric models were constructed to explore patient outcome using three predictors: the presence of anisocoria at rest (in ambient light); the presence of anisocoria after light stimulus; and persistent anisocoria (present both at rest and after light). The primary outcome was discharge mRS score associated with the presence of anisocoria at rest versus after light stimulus using the three commonly defined cut points. RESULTS: This analysis included 152,905 paired observations from 6,654 patients with a mean age of 57.0 (standard deviation 17.9) years, and a median hospital stay of 5 (interquartile range 3-12) days. The mean admission Glasgow Coma Scale score was 12.7 (standard deviation 3.5), and the median discharge mRS score was 2 (interquartile range 0-4). The ranges for absolute differences in pupil diameters were 0-5.76 mm at rest and 0-6.84 mm after light. Using an anisocoria cut point of > 0.5 mm, patients with anisocoria after light had worse median mRS scores (2 [interquartile range 0-4]) than patients with anisocoria at rest (1 [interquartile range 0-3]; P < .0001). Patients with persistent anisocoria had worse median mRS scores (3 [interquartile range 1-4]) than those without persistent anisocoria (1 [interquartile range 0-3]; P < .0001). Similar findings were observed using a cut point for anisocoria of > 1 mm and > 2 mm. CONCLUSIONS: Anisocoria after light is a new biomarker that portends worse outcome than anisocoria at rest. After further validation, anisocoria after light should be considered for inclusion as a reported and trended assessment value.

Prospective study examining the impact of cerebral angiography on quantitative pupillometer values in the interventional radiology suite.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this pilot study was to obtain baseline quantitative pupillometry (QP) measurements before and after catheter-directed cerebral angiography (DCA) to explore the hypothesis that cerebral angiography is an independent predictor of change in pupillary light reflex (PLR) metrics. DESIGN: This was a prospective, observational pilot study of PLR assessments obtained using QP 30 min before and after DCA. All patients had QP measurements performed with the NPi-300 (Neuroptics) pupillometer. SETTING: Recruitment was done at a single-centre, tertiary-care academic hospital and comprehensive stroke centre in Dallas, Texas. PARTICIPANTS: Fifty participants were recruited undergoing elective or emergent angiography. Inclusion criteria were a physician-ordered interventional neuroradiological procedure, at least 18 years of age, no contraindications to PLR assessment with QP, and nursing transport to and from DCA. Patients with a history of eye surgery were excluded. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Difference in PLR metric obtained from QP 30 min before and after DCA. RESULTS: Statistically significant difference was noted in the pre and post left eye readings for the minimum pupil size (a.k.a., pupil diameter on maximum constriction). The mean maximum constriction diameter prior to angiogram of 3.2 (1.1) mm was statistically larger than after angiogram (2.9 (1.0) mm; p<0.05); however, this was not considered clinically significant. Comparisons for all other PLR metrics pre and post angiogram demonstrated no significant difference. Using change in NPi pre and post angiogram (Δpre=0.05 (0.77) vs Δpost=0.08 (0.67); p=0.62), we calculated the effect size as 0.042. Hence, detecting a statistically significant difference in NPi, if a difference exists, would require a sample size of ~6000 patients. CONCLUSIONS: Our study provides supportive data that in an uncomplicated angiogram, even with intervention, there is no effect on the PLR.

Consistently Exploring Nurse Staffing and Neurocritical Care Unit Turnover.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Staffing models within nursing units have long been a hot topic of discussion. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated this discussion by straining the national nursing environment and workforce. Before the pandemic, the neuroscience intensive care unit (NSICU) primarily used an acuity-adjusted staffing model and aimed for a nurse-to-patient ratio of 1:1.5. During and after the pandemic, the NSICU was forced to primarily use a centralized staffing model because of the increased turnover in the hospital at large and a rise in patient census. METHODS : Unit census data in an NSICU were tracked before, during, and after the pandemic alongside utilization of a centralized staffing model in the hospital at large. RESULTS : During this time, the NSICU saw a statistically significant increase in average nurse-to-patient ratio and incidences of both floating and tripled assignments. The NSICU simultaneously saw a 180% increase in nursing turnover. CONCLUSION : Although we cannot prove that a centralized staffing model is directly responsible for higher nursing turnover, its utilization led to greater incidence of poor staffing-reflected in deviation from the nurse-to-patient ratio goal of the unit. Nurse staffing concerns play a large role in nurse satisfaction in the workforce: staffing shortages have been described both as a precursor to and as a consequence of increased nursing turnover.

Describing Anisocoria in Neurocritically Ill Patients.

BACKGROUND: Anisocoria (unequal pupil size) has been defined using cut points ranging from greater than 0.3 mm to greater than 2.0 mm for absolute difference in pupil size. This study explored different pupil diameter cut points for assessing anisocoria as measured by quantitative pupillometry before and after light stimulus. METHODS: An exploratory descriptive study of international registry data was performed. The first observations in patients with paired left and right quantitative pupillometry measurements were included. Measurements of pupil size before and after stimulus with a fixed light source were used to calculate anisocoria. RESULTS: The sample included 5769 patients (mean [SD] age, 57.5 [17.6] years; female sex, 2558 patients [51.5%]; White race, 3669 patients [75.5%]). Anisocoria defined as pupil size difference of greater than 0.5 mm was present in 1624 patients (28.2%) before light stimulus; 645 of these patients (39.7%) also had anisocoria after light stimulus (P < .001). Anisocoria defined as pupil size difference of greater than 2.0 mm was present in 79 patients (1.4%) before light stimulus; 42 of these patients (53.2%) also had anisocoria after light stimulus (P < .001). DISCUSSION: The finding of anisocoria significantly differed before and after light stimulus and according to the cut point used. At most cut points, fewer than half of the patients who had anisocoria before light stimulus also had anisocoria after light stimulus. CONCLUSION: The profound difference in the number of patients adjudicated as having anisocoria using different cut points reinforces the need to develop a universal definition for anisocoria.

Exploring Plan of Care Communication With a Multidisciplinary Rounding Plan to Nursing Care Plans.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: The nursing care plan (NCP) was developed approximately 100 years ago as a teaching tool for nursing students. Our neuroscience intensive care unit (NSICU) uses a multidisciplinary rounding plan (MDRP) that may provide more relevant and up-to-date information than the standard NCP. METHODS: In this prospective single-blind randomized pilot study, we examined nurses' abilities to respond to 7 clinical scenarios common to the NSICU. The NCPs and MDRPs from 70 patients were randomly assigned to 14 nurses (10 per nurse) who answered each of the 7 questions using only data from an NCP or data from an MDR. RESULTS: The MDRP mean score of 4.51 (1.50) correct answers was statistically significantly higher than the NCP mean score of 0.31 (0.71) correct answer (P < .0001). CONCLUSION: The MDRP was designed to address the modern-day communication needs of NSICU staff by leveraging technological advances. Data from this study suggest that the MDRP may have advantages over the NCP in providing contextually relevant information. Additional research is warranted to develop the MDRP as a replacement for the NCP in the NSICU setting.