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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Quantitative EEG during Early Recovery from Hypoxic-Ischemic Injury in Immature Piglets: Burst Occurrence and Duration

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This study examined the course of EEG recovery in an animal model of hypoxic-ischemic injury. The model used periods of hypoxia, room air and asphyxia to induce cardiac arrest. One-week-old piglets (n = 16) were exposed to a period of hypoxia, room air and complete asphyxia for 7 minutes. After cardiac arrest and resuscitation, two EEG features were evaluated as prognostic indicators of behavioral outcome as assessed by a neuroscore at 24 hours after insult. A prominent EEG feature was the number and duration of bursts evident during recovery. Episodes of bursting were detected through the thresholds on sustained periods of elevated power. After the animal was resuscitated, the EEG was monitored continuously for 4 hours. To assess outcome in the recovering animal, a behavioral testing scale was used to test the animal's neurological capabilities. Trends of EEG burst counts were measured through thresholds on sustained power changes. Bursts are energy transients in the EEG record. High degrees of bursting were characteristic of animals having good neurological condition whereas piglets having low burst counts had poor 24 hr neuroscores. At 100 min the average burst rate of the good neuroscore outcome group was more than 8 per min and was significantly different from the poor outcome group's level of 2.7 (p < or = 0.05). When these counts were weighted by their total duration, differences between groups increased (p < or = 0.02). This study showed that the QEEG measure of burst counts and duration together provided a strong prognostic indication of the 24 hour outcome after asphyxic injury in a neonatal animal model. The critical determinant of the bursting character was the time when bursting occurred. Bursting occurring early in recovery was a good gauge of outcome. We conclude that quantitative EEG analysis and interpretation can be an important tool for the outcome determination during recovery from cerebral injury states.