NSE after cardiac arrest during hypothermia predicts outcome

AN 2010 Po1.048  JEF Fugate, Wijdicks et al.  NSE was measured serially in comatose patients undergoing hypothermia.  A cutoff was used of 33 ug/L.  NSE was measured at day one and day three,  with higher NSE suggesting poor prognosis (defined as one year mortality).  48 patients, 41 had first day NSE, 14 had third day NSE.  For first day NSE, the number with high level is given with number of survivors at one year in parenthesis 19 (3) with a low NSE being 22 (11).  Trend in NSE on day 3 was highly predictive (p<.015).  The sensitivity for first day NSE was 59 % for one year mortality with improvement to 66 % if 3 day NSE is included.