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PubMed1981

Haemostatic changes in diabetic coma.

Diabetic coma is frequently associated with thromboembolic complications. A prospective study was undertaken of the haemostatic changes occurring in 15 patients (12 with ketoacidosis, three with the hyperosmolar syndrome) during diabetic coma. When compared with the results after stabilization of the diabetes, ketoacidosis was associated with significantly higher levels of factor VIII coagulant activity, factor VIII-related antigen and fibrin degradation products, a shorter partial thromboplastin time and reduced concentrations of antithrombin III. These results suggest that in uncomplicated ketoacidosis, haematological changes occur which may reflect vascular endothelial damage and intravascular fibrin deposition. Out of three deaths, two patients (both with the hyperosmolar syndrome) had evidence of disseminated intravascular coagulation. To reduce further the mortality and morbidity from diabetic coma, controlled clinical trials of anticoagulant and antiplatelet drugs may be indicated.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Predictive value of brain-stem auditory evoked potentials in children with post-traumatic coma produced by diffuse brain injury.

In the present study, brain-stem auditory evoked potentials (BAEPs) in 31 children in post-traumatic coma with diffuse brain injury were examined. The BAEPs were recorded in the first 72 h after hospital admission and the findings of 29 patients related to the level of neurological recovery at 6 months after head injury. On the basis of the results, children were divided into three groups: the first consisted of children with bilateral and normal BAEPs (n = 19); the second of those with asymmetrical BAEPs (n = 6); and the third of those in whom BAEPs has disappeared or in whom only responses of the seventh cranial nerve and cochlear nucleus were recorded (n = 4). All the patients in the first group presented a good clinical outcome, with excellent recovery in 80%. In the second group three children (42.8%) had a good recovery, two (28.6%) were moderately disabled and one (14.3%) died of extraneurological causes. All the patients in the third group died. Abnormal BAEPs showed a significant correlation with absence of pupillary and/or corneal reflex, but not with the Glasgow Coma Score and anisocoria. Good statistical correlation was observed between normal BAEPs and visualization of basal cisterns on computed tomographic scan. The incidence of increased intracranial pressure was higher in patients with abnormal BAEPs, but the differences were not significant (P = 0.06). Our study confirms the predictive value of BAEPs in children's post-traumatic coma due to diffuse brain injury.

Brain Damage, Chronic↗
PubMed2005

Long-term outcome in coma.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the relationship between Modified Glasgow Coma Scale, its components, brain stem reflexes and long term functional outcome in children with acute non-traumatic coma. METHOD: MGCS and brainstem reflexes were assessed at 6 hourly intervals for 72 hours from the time of admission. The children were followed up regularly and functional outcome was assessed at the end of 9 months. The lowest score of the MGCS and worst brain stem reflexes were used for the analysis. RESULTS: Higher total MGCS score and verbal response score had a significant positive correlation with better functional outcome as measured by GOS and intelligence quotient. There was no association between the language function and the initial MGCS, its components and brain stem reflexes. Lower verbal response (P = 0.005) was the only factor that was found to be individually associated with poorer long term GOS score and intelligence quotient by multivariate linear regression analysis. CONCLUSION: In the long term prediction of outcome in acute non-traumatic coma, MGCS is not useful. However, verbal response, a component of MGCS, correlates well with long term functional outcome and intelligence quotient.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed2003

A survey on patients admitted in severe coma: implications for brain death identification and organ donation.

OBJECTIVE: To identify factors to improve the identification of brain dead patients in intensive care units (ICUs). DESIGN AND SETTING: Prospective study conducted in 79 ICUs in 54 hospitals. PATIENTS: All hospitalized patients with a Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score less than 8. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: During the study period hospital staff completed a form for each patient with a GCS less than 8. Hospital information units provided us with statistics from the discharge forms. The characteristics of the hospitals were also recorded. We included a total of 792 patients with a GCS less than 8; 120 of these patients were diagnosed as being clinically brain dead (15.1%). These patients accounted for 11.8% of the comatose patients in ICUs, 11.7% of the deaths occurring in ICUs, and 3.3% of the deaths that occurred in the hospital during the study period. Two multivariate linear regressions were performed to predict the number of clinically brain dead patients in the ICUs. The regression analyses included causes of death or causes of coma, and hospital characteristics. The presence of a coordination team and the number of transplant coordinators were positively associated with the number of brain dead patients in both models. The number of patients carried to the ICU by a mobile emergency unit was also positively associated in the model with causes of coma. CONCLUSIONS: Increasing the number of hospital coordinators and collaboration with mobile emergency units should lead to the identification of more brain dead patients among comatose patients in ICUs.

Brain Death↗
PubMed1983

Hyperosmolar hyperglycemic nonketotic coma. A complication of short-term systemic corticosteroid use.

Hyperosmolar hyperglycemic nonketotic coma is a serious and often lethal clinical biochemical syndrome. We report three cases of ophthalmic problems that were treated with a short course of oral corticosteroids and which resulted in the development of hyperosmolar hyperglycemic nonketotic coma. Two of these cases concerned relatively young, previously healthy patients and had fatal outcomes. The third patient, who was elderly, survived because of early detection and initiation of therapy. All three cases demonstrate that hyperosmolar hyperglycemic nonketotic coma is a serious potential complication of systemic steroidal therapy, even in a short course of treatment such as is often used in ophthalmology.

Administration, Oral↗
PubMed2000

Predicting outcome from coma: man-in-the-barrel syndrome as potential pitfall.

The Glasgow coma scale motor score is often used in predicting outcome after hypoxic-ischemic coma. Judicious care should be exerted when using this variable in predicting outcome in patients with coma following hypotension since borderzone infarction can obscure the clinical picture. We describe a patient who underwent skull base surgery for a schwannoma of the left facial nerve. The operation, which lasted for 10 h, was conducted under controlled hypotension. After the intervention the patient remained comatose with absent arm movements upon painful stimuli. An absent motor score usually carries a poor prognosis. However, magnetic resonance inversion recovery imaging of the brain showed bilateral hyperintense lesions in the arm-hand area indicative of borderzone ischemic damage. The patient received optimal supportive care and after 17 days he regained consciousness with 'man-in-the-barrel syndrome', which also further improved over time.

Coma↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Electrical treatment of reduced consciousness: experience with coma and Alzheimer's disease.

The right median nerve can be stimulated electrically to help arouse the central nervous system for persons with reduced levels of consciousness. The mechanisms of central action include increased cerebral blood flow and raised levels of dopamine. There is 11 years of experience in the USA of using nerve stimulation for acute coma after traumatic brain injury. There is a much longer period of experience by neurosurgeons in Japan with implanted electrodes on the cervical spinal cord for persons in the persistent vegetative state (PVS). But the use of right median nerve electrical stimulation (RMNS) for patients in the subacute and chronic phases of coma is relatively new. Surface electrical stimulation to treat anoxic brain injury as well as traumatic brain injury is evolving. Novel applications of electrical stimulation in Amsterdam have produced cognitive behavioural effects in persons with early and mid-stage Alzheimer's disease employing transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS). Improvements in short-term memory and speech fluency have also been noted. Regardless of the aetiology of the coma or reduced level of awareness, electrical stimulation may serve as a catalyst to enhance central nervous system functions. It remains for the standard treatments and modalities to retrain the injured brain emerging from reduced levels of consciousness.

Acute Disease↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Evoked potentials for the prediction of vegetative state in the acute stage of coma.

For comatose patients in intensive care units, it is important to anticipate their functional outcome as soon and as reliably as possible. Among clinical variables the Glasgow Coma Score (GCS) and the patient's pupil reactivity are the strongest predictive variables. Evoked potentials help to assess objectively brain function. Over the past 20 years, numerous studies have assessed their prognostic utility in terms of awakening from coma. Fewer studies, however, have focused upon the utility of evoked potentials in predicting progression to the vegetative state. In this area evoked potentials appear to have a highly predictive value. In anoxic coma the abolition of somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) is related to a poor outcome, defined as death or survival in a vegetative state, with a 100% specificity. Following traumatic brain injury, the predictive value for unfavourable outcome is 98.5% when there are no focal injuries likely to abolish SEP cortical components. In contrast, the presence of event-related evoked potentials, and particularly mismatched negativity (MMN), is a strong predictor of awakening and precludes comatose patients from moving to a permanent vegetative state (PVS).

Acute Disease↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Understanding and managing coma stimulation: are we doing everything we can?

The incidence of people surviving with traumatic brain injury is rising at a remarkable pace. Unfortunately, patients also experience some form of coma and significant deficits (ie, cognitive, functional, etc). The focus is shifting from saving these patients to trying to figure out what else can be done for them? In the past, patients were medically maintained, stabilized, and then sent to rehabilitation centers for coma stimulation, in the hope of waking up their reticular activating system. Today, healthcare professionals are being encouraged to research and explore the possibility of implementing structured coma stimulation programs as early as 72 hours postinjury in the intensive care unit. Starting early is of paramount importance to a patient's survival, quality of life, and overall long-term prognosis. The goal of this article is to educate healthcare professionals (in the hospital setting) about managing and implementing structured sensory stimulation sessions.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed2000

The role of evoked potentials in anoxic-ischemic coma and severe brain trauma.

The early recognition of comatose patients with a hopeless prognosis-regardless of how aggressively they are managed-is of utmost importance. Median somatosensory evoked potentials supplement and enhance neurologic examination findings in anoxic-ischemic coma and severe brain trauma, and are useful as an early guide to outcome. The key finding is that bilateral absence of cortical evoked potentials, generated by thalamocortical tracts, reliably predicts unfavorable outcome in comatose patients after cardiac arrest, and correlates strongly with death or persistent vegetative state in severe brain trauma. The author studied 50 comatose patients with preserved brainstem function after cardiac arrest. All 23 patients with bilateral absence of cortical evoked potentials died without awakening. Neuropathologic study in seven patients disclosed widespread ischemic changes or frank cortical laminar necrosis. The remaining 27 patients with normal or delayed central conduction times had an uncertain prognosis because some died without awakening or entered a persistent vegetative state. The majority of patients with normal central conduction times had a good outcome, whereas a delay in central conduction times increased the likelihood of neurologic deficit or death. This report includes a systematic review of the literature concerning adults in anoxic-ischemic coma and severe brain trauma, in which somatosensory evoked potentials were used as an early guide to predict clinical outcome. Greater use of somatosensory evoked potentials in anoxic-ischemic coma and severe brain trauma would identify those patients unlikely to recover and would avoid costly medical care that is to no avail.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

CSF neurotransmitter metabolites and short-term outcome of patients in coma after head injury.

The main metabolites of the neurotransmitters noradrenaline, dopamine, and serotonin, methoxy-hydroxyphenylglycol (MHPG), homovanillic acid (HVA), and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5HIAA) respectively, were estimated by HPLC with electrochemical detection in CSF samples from 24 patients in coma after head injury, 1 to 12 (mean 3.0) days from accident, and from 24 age- and sex-matched subjects undergoing myelography for possible herniated disk. Analysis of variance with age as covariate, revealed significantly elevated levels of all three metabolites in the patients group. The concentrations of 5HIAA were negatively correlated to the score in the Glasgow Coma Scale. Fourteen patients who recovered with no or minor neurological deficits, had significantly lower CSF 5HIAA levels compared to the ten patients who had a bad outcome (death), while there were no differences regarding HVA or MHPG concentrations. The possibility of a connection of the high neurotransmitter turnover during coma to the development of post-traumatic depression is discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Cerebrospinal fluid lactate in patients with diabetes mellitus and hypoglycaemic coma.

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) lactate and pyruvate concentrations were determined in 20 patients with diabetes mellitus but without disturbance of consciousness and five who recovered from hypoglycaemic coma. CSF lactate was slightly but significantly higher in diabetes mellitus (1.78, SEM 0.04 m mol/l) than that in 15 control subjects (1.40, SEM 0.05 m mol/l). In those who recovered from hypoglycaemic coma, CSF lactate was markedly elevated to 2.45-4.43 m mol/l. CSF glucose concentrations, however, were substantially the same between treated hypoglycaemic and diabetes mellitus groups. These findings indicate that CSF lactate levels increase with glycaemic levels in diabetes mellitus owing to enhanced glucose influx into glycolytic pathway of the brain, and also increases in treated hypoglycaemic coma probably due to mitochondrial dysfunction or damage.

Brain Damage, Chronic↗
PubMed1981

Low-dose insulin treatment of hyperosmolar diabetic coma.

The effect of low-dose hourly i.m. injections of insulin has been studied in the treatment of 17 episodes of hyperosmolar non-ketoacidotic diabetic coma compared with 26 episode of hyperosmolar ketoacidosis occurring in patients over 40 years of age. The fall in blood sugar was satisfactory in the majority of episodes of both types of coma and there was no evidence that patients with hyperosmolar non-ketoacidotic coma were more sensitive to insulin. The excess mortality in the non-ketotic group (47%) compared with the ketoacidotic group (16%) was not due to uncontrolled diabetes.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Factors associated with mortality of patients with myxoedema coma: prospective study in 11 cases treated in a single institution.

This study was carried out to investigate the clinical and biochemical factors which might be of importance in predicting the outcome of patients with myxoedema coma. Eleven patients (ten female) aged 68.1+/-19.5 years attended our institution over a period of 18 years. Glasgow and APACHE II scores and serum free thyroxine and TSH were measured in all the patients on entry. Patients were selected at random to be treated with two different regimens of l-thyroxine. Four patients died with the mortality rate being 36.4%. The patients in coma at entry had significantly higher mortality rates than those with minor degrees of consciousness (75% vs 14.3% respectively, P=0.04). The surviving patients had significantly higher Glasgow scores than those who died (11.85+/-2.3 vs 5.25+/-2.2 respectively, P<0.001). Comparison of the mean values of APACHE II scores between the surviving group and those who died was significantly different (18.0+/-2.08 vs 31.5+/-2.08 respectively, P<0.0001). The degree of consciousness, the Glasgow score and the severity of the illness measured by APACHE II score on entry were the main factors that determined the post-treatment outcome of patients with myxoedema coma.

APACHE↗
PubMed2003

Psychogenic coma: case report.

Coma is present when the patient appears asleep, is unrousable, and unresponsive. Where no underlying medical condition is found, the role of the psychiatrist may become prominent. We present a clinical case and review the literature on psychogenic coma. According to DSM-IV-TR, psychogenic coma is a dissociative disorder not otherwise specified. Management is largely supportive. Principles include speaking in a reassuring manner and avoiding repeated painful stimuli. Education of family and other professionals that symptoms are real and not consciously feigned may be important. There may be a short-term role for anxiolytic and/or antipsychotic medication to assist return to consciousness.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Prediction of outcome of prolonged coma caused by brain damage.

Thirty-one prolonged coma patients, who continued in a comatose state for at least 2 months, were classified electrophysiologically employing EEG, a compressed spectral array of continuous EEG frequency analysis, BSR, SEP and SSEP. The prognoses of long-term follow-up (at least 8 months) in these patients were compared with the results of such electrophysiological analysis and with the neurological gradings of the prolonged coma patients. In the continuous EEG frequency analysis, 22 cases were classified as having a changeable spectrogram, nine cases as having a slow monotonous spectrogram, and no cases as having a borderline spectrogram. We also classified the changeable spectrograms into the following three patterns: no desynchronization, slight desynchronization, and desynchronization. The nine cases with a slow monotonous spectrogram revealed severe damage of the brain stem and cerebral function with multimodality evoked potentials, and most of these cases could not survive without assisted respiration. The 22 cases with a changeable spectrogram had mild damage of the brain stem and cerebral function with multimodality evoked potentials, and these cases were identical with a persistent vegetative state. Three of the cases showed a changeable spectrogram that revealed a desynchronization pattern, normal BSR and normal N20 of SEP and SSEP, recovered spontaneously from the persistent vegetative state within 6 months after electrophysiological evaluation. We conclude that not only a neurological but also an electrophysiological classification is necessary to evaluate the brain function and prognosis of prolonged coma.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

[The absence of brainstem reflexes does not predict short term mortality in anoxic ischemic coma].

BACKGROUND: Anoxic-ischemic coma has a poor outcome with a high rate of mortality and morbidity. Therefore, clinical predictors of prognosis are needed for therapeutic decision-making. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Prospective analysis of 46 patients, 31 male, age range 19-85 years, with anoxic-ischemic coma following cardiac arrest. All the patients included in our study remained comatose with a Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score of six or less points, after their stabilization in the Intensive Care Unit. They were evaluated clinically using the pupillary light reflex, corneal reflex and vestibulo-ocular reflex testing, induced by caloric stimulation with cold water. Survival was evaluated using life tables. All patients were followed until the thirtieth day after the anoxic-ischemic event. RESULTS: Thirty five patients (76%) died within the next twenty-nine days, 8 patients (18%) reached the vegetative state, 2 patients (4%) achieved a recovery with disability, and only 1 patient (2%) was discharged without sequelae. One day, five and 30 days survival rates were 89, 53 and 29%, respectively. The abolition of all brainstem reflexes was not a predictor of mortality. CONCLUSION: Thirty day survival in this group of patients was 29% and the absence of brainstem reflexes was not a predictor of mortality.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Coma induced by intoxication.

Clinicians in the emergency department are often confronted with coma patients due to poisoning. A systematic general approach involving early consultation with a neurologist is of paramount importance. A high index of suspicion, a systematic first assessment already in the prehospital phase and early stabilisation of vital functions are the essential first steps. Specific antidotes like hypertonic glucose and thiamine are part of a "coma cocktail". The opiate antagonist naloxone should be used only when clinically indicated and in a titrated way. Flumazenil should only be used with caution and in restricted cases. Clinical neurological evaluation and technical investigations like CT-scan and laboratory tests should make part of a careful diagnostic plan. Toxicological tests deserve their place in the diagnostic work up of a coma patient with suspected poisoning. Knowledge of the possibilities of the toxicology lab and optimal communication with the clinical toxicologist is important for optimal patient care.

Accidental Falls↗