Post Cardiac Arrest Care Evaluation of prognostic tools, Patient outcomes and Relatives’ experiences at 6 months after the event

Abstract: The overall aim of the present thesis was to study post-resuscitation care of cardiac arrest (CA) patients treated with target temperature management 33°C with a focus on evaluation of two prognostic tools: variations in cerebral venous saturation and acute magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings on the brain post-CA. An additional aim was to investigate patients’ neurological outcome and relatives’ experiences 6 months after the event. Paper I describes the cerebral oxygen saturation of blood obtained from a jugular bulb (SjvO2) catheter The results showed that patients with poor outcome tended to have higher SjvO2values,but this difference was only significant at 96 and108 hours post-CA. The main findings of Paper II were that patients with good outcome displayed a pathological pattern mainly in the frontal and parietal lobes on MRI of the brain. Patients with poor outcome had an extensive pathological pattern in several brain regions. Furthermore, very low apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values were associated with poor outcome regardless of brain region. Paper III investigated physical and cognitive function over time, between one month and 6 months post-CA, as well as d life satisfaction at 6 months. The results showed that impairment in physical and cognitive function is common in CA survivors but tends to decrease over time. Despite a severe illness, which has impaired the physical and cognitive functions, satisfaction with life as a whole was reported by 70% of CA survivors. In Paper IV, relatives described their experiences 6 months after a significant others CA. The analysis resulted in three themes reflecting relatives’ everyday life 6 months after the event: Difficulties managing a changed life situation, Feeling like I come second and Feeling new hope for the future. In conclusion, the results of the present thesis have increased our understanding of the two prognostic tools that were investigated; they have generated new and revealed aspects that should be taken into account during prognostication and assessing neurological outcome of this group of patients. The thesis has also shown that the healthcare needs to improve its routines for follow-ups and information provision to both patients and their relatives.