Monitoring the Changes of Electroencephalogram During Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation

The electroencephalogram (EEG), a technique that uses scalp electrodes to monitor electrical potential variations in synaptic neuronal activity to provide information on cortical brain function, is extremely sensitive to changes in consciousness and has shown promising results in brain injury and functional recovery after cardiac arrest (CA). However, changes of the EEG signals during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) are still unclear. This study aimed to develop an approach to monitoring the EEG alterations during CPR and examine the effects of CPR on the cerebral cortical function. A CA model was realized on five healthy adult Bama pigs. A standard CPR treatment was performed on the pigs, by which four of them fulfilled the standard of return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) whereas one of them failed to be recovered. During the CPR treatment, 12 channels of EEG were recorded on the global area of cortical area. The power spectral density, the average weighted clustering coefficient (C), and the characteristic path length (L) of the EEG signals were calculated. This study revealed that the ß band is the characteristic band of CPR. Before CPR and after ROSC, the brain networks had more information processing capability, and the values of C and L would serve as good functional indicators for the neurological prognosis by CA.