Table 1 |
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Prognosis of a comatose patient |
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Primary assessment |
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Glasgow Coma Scale <8? |
Patient is comatose |
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No response to environment? |
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At 24 hours |
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Clinical examination |
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Absent pupillary response? |
Probability of a poor outcome, 97% |
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Absent motor response? |
Probability of a poor outcome, 97% |
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Somatosensory evoked potentials, absent N20 signal bilaterally |
Probability of a poor outcome, 100% |
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Serum neuron-specific enolase ≥33 μg/l |
Probability of a poor outcome, 100% |
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At 72 hours |
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Clinical examination |
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Absent motor response? |
Probability of a poor outcome, 97% |
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Somatosensory evoked potentials, absent N20 signal bilaterally |
Probability of a poor outcome, 100% |
|
Serum neuron-specific enolase ≥33 μg/l |
Probability of a poor outcome, 100% |
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Electroencephalography, isoelectric or burst-suppression |
Probability of a poor outcome, 100% |
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'Poor outcome' is defined as death or persistent coma 1 month later [5,13]. |
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Meyer and Hall Critical Care 2006 10:223 doi:10.1186/cc4980 |
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