Use of S-100B, NSE, CRP and ESR to predict neurological outcomes in patients with return of spontaneous circulation and treated with hypothermia.

BACKGROUND: With the introduction of therapeutic hypothermia (TH), the prediction of neurological outcomes in cardiac arrest (CA) survivors is challenging. Early, accurate determination of prognosis by emergency physicians is important to avoid unnecessarily prolonged critical care with a likely poor neurological outcome. METHODS: This prospective observational study included patients with non-traumatic CA and return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) between March 2009 and May 2012 at a tertiary academic hospital. Unconscious patients with ROSC were treated with mild TH (32°C-34°C) for 24 hours. Blood samples were collected for S-100B, neuron-specific enolase (NSE), C-reactive protein (CRP) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) at 0, 24 and 48 hours post-ROSC. Neurological outcomes were evaluated at hospital discharge and dichotomised as good (cerebral performance category (CPC) 1 or 2) or poor (CPC 3, 4 or 5). RESULTS: Of the 119 patients (68.1% male, 53±15.6 years old) who underwent TH, 46 patients had a good outcome (38.9%). Poor neurological outcomes were predicted using receiver operating characteristic analyses at cut-off values of 0.12 g/L for S-100B at 24 hours post-ROSC (sensitivity, 95.0%; specificity, 75.6%; area under the curve (AUC) 0.916; 95% CI of AUC: 0.846 to 0.961), 31.03 ng/mL for NSE at 48 hours post-ROSC (sensitivity, 83.9%; specificity, 96.9%; AUC 0.929; 95% CI of AUC: 0.836 to 0.979) and 11.2 mg/dL for CRP at 48 hours post-ROSC (sensitivity, 69.4%; specificity, 75.0%; AUC 0.731; 95% CI of AUC: 0.617 to 0.827). ESR was not significant. CONCLUSIONS: Among the biomarkers, S-100B at 24 hours and NSE at 48 hours post-ROSC were highly predictive of neurological outcomes in patients treated with TH after CA.

Acute abdominal pain due to spontaneous rupture of the right gastric artery.

Abdominal apoplexy was reported by Barber in 1909, and the occurrence rate of the apoplexy is known to be quite rare, but the mortality is high if untreated. We report an unusual case of abdominal apoplexy due to spontaneous rupture of gastric artery. A male patient in his fifth decade with recently diagnosed liver cirrhosis history arrived to the emergency department with severe abdominal pain, which led to abdominal computer tomography indicating spontaneous rupture of gastric artery. Celiac angiogram and embolization were conducted, and exploratory laparotomy was followed. The outcome of the patient was poor, and he died on the second day of admission. As in our case, the mortality can be high, so prompt restoration of circulation volume and early diagnosis should be made in similar cases.