Prediction of Brain Death After Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest: Development and Validation of the Brain Death After Cardiac Arrest Score.

BACKGROUND: Among patients successfully resuscitated after an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA), 10% to 15% evolve toward brain death (BD), thus becoming potential organ donors. RESEARCH QUESTION: Is it possible to establish a score for early estimation of BD risk after OHCA? STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: The BD after cardiac arrest (BDCA) score was developed from data available within 24 hours after OHCA from two OHCA trials: Cyclosporine in Cardiac Arrest Resuscitation and Erythropoietin After OHCA. The BDCA score was then validated in another large prospective multicenter data set. The main outcome was the occurrence of BD. Independent prognostic covariates for BD were identified using a binomial two-stage adaptive least absolute shrinkage and selection operator procedure. RESULTS: The development cohort included 569 patients alive 24 hours after OHCA, among whom 84 (14.8%) experienced BD. Independent predictors of BD used to build the BDCA score were being female (4 points), nonshockable rhythm (24 points), cardiac cause of OHCA (-6 points), neurological cause of OHCA (45 points), natremia at 24 hours (natremia in millimoles per liter minus 140 points), and vasoactive drug at admission (4 points) and at 24 hours (6 points). The area under the curve (AUC) of the BDCA score was 0.82 (95% CI, 0.77-0.86), and the discrimination value in the validation cohort (n = 487) was consistent (AUC, 0.81; 95% CI, 0.76-0.86). In the validation cohort, BD occurred in 4.0%, 20.4%, and 67.7% of patients with scores of < 20, 20 to 50, and > 50, respectively. INTERPRETATION: The BDCA score allows early detection of patients with a high probability of experiencing BD, which may help increase organ donation after OHCA. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov; No.: NCT01595958, and ClinicalTrials.gov; No.: NCT00999583; URL: www.clinicaltrials.gov.

Risk factors for progression toward brain death after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

BACKGROUND: Successfully resuscitated out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) may lead to brain death (BD) and good-quality transplantable organs. We aimed to determine risk factors for evolution toward BD after OHCA. We analyzed adult patients admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) who survived at least 24 h after an OHCA between 2005 and 2015. BD was defined according to international guidelines. Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify potential risk factors for BD available 24 h after OHCA. RESULTS: A total of 214 patients were included (median age 68 years; sex ratio 1.25; non-shockable OHCA: 88%). Among these, 42 (19.6%) developed BD, while 22 (10.3%) were alive at 1 year with a good neurological outcome. Independent risk factors for BD were age (OR per year 0.95; 95% CI [0.92-0.98]), female gender (OR 2.34; 95% CI [1.02-5.35]), neurological cause of OHCA (OR 14.72; 95% CI [3.03-71.37]), duration of the low-flow period > 16 min (OR 2.94, 95% CI [1.21-7.16]) and need of vasoactive drugs at 24 h (OR 6.20, 95% CI [2.41-15.93]). CONCLUSIONS: The study identified, in a population of OHCA with predominantly non-shockable initial rhythms, five simple risk factors independently associated with progression toward BD.

Conservative management of anterior cruciate ligament injury in paediatric population: About 53 patients.

INTRODUCTION: The last symposium held by the French Arthroscopy Society was on anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction on children. The first aim of this study was to analyse the tolerance of conservative management of ACL rupture in children. We also tried to find predictive factors of ACL reconstruction. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We conducted an observational, retrospective study in an academic department of paediatric orthopaedic surgery. All patients under the age of eighteen, who were treated conservatively for an acute intra-ligamentous ACL rupture confirmed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) between 2007 and 2017, were included. Two groups were analysed: operated patients and conservative treatment. We also analysed population according Tanner stage. RESULTS: Fifty-three patients were included in this study. The median length of follow-up was 31.5 months [interquartile range (IQR): 22.3-49.3]. The median age at the last follow-up was 14.4 years [IQR: 12.6-15.5]. All patients were allowed to practice activities without restrictions, including pivoting sports. Tegner activity level scale remains identical before injury and at last follow-up (p: n.s.). Nineteen patients (36%) described knee instability at last follow-up. On the last MRI, 9 (17%) patients had meniscal tears but only one patient (2%) needed a menisectomy. Twenty-one patients (40%) underwent ACL reconstruction. The 4-years successful conservative treatment rate was 92% (95% CI: 85-98%). Clinical instability at first examination was the only significant predictive factors of bad tolerance of conservative management (p=0.047). DISCUSSION: Conservative management of ACL rupture in paediatric population is a valuable treatment which permits return to a normal life with sports activities without major increasing of meniscal tears. The rehabilitation protocol must restore full knee stability to permit a successful conservative treatment. We must study the impact of pubertal status on larger group. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: IV, retrospective study.

[Super high-flux continuous hemodialysis in septic shock: a case report]. / Hémodialyse continue avec membrane super high-flux au cours d'un choc septique : application clinique.

Continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) with a high cutoff (HCO) membrane is proposed for septic shock as a blood purification technique. The aim of this therapy is to modulate the immune response through the increase of the clearances of the inflammatory mediators as compared to standard CRRT. The use of HCO membranes in daily clinical practice is limited due to the related theoretical albumin loss. Super high-flux (SHF) membranes have an optimized cutoff and, when used in a diffusive mode, may allow for high clearances of middle molecules with limited albumin loss. We report the case of a patient with pneumonia and septic shock treated with continuous hemodialysis with a SHF membrane in order to present the clinical application of this new extracorporeal blood purification technique.