Early prediction of coma recovery after cardiac arrest with blinded pupillometry

Objectives Prognostication studies on comatose cardiac arrest (CA) patients are limited by lack of blinding, potentially causing overestimation of outcome predictors and self-fulfilling prophecy. Using a blinded approach, we analysed the value of quantitative automated pupillometry to predict neurological recovery after CA. Methods We examined a prospective cohort of 103 comatose adult patients who were unconscious 48 hours after CA and underwent repeated measurements of quantitative pupillary light reflex (PLR) using the Neurolight-Algiscan® device. Clinical examination, electroencephalography (EEG), somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEP) and serum neuron specific enolase (NSE) were perfor…