The differences in brain damage between asphyxial and ventricular fibrillation cardiac arrests

Objective: Asphyxia and ventricular fibrillation are the two most prevalent causes of cardiac arrest. The study investigated the differences in brain damage after cardiac arrest between asphyxial and ventricular fibrillation cardiac arrests in rats. Methods: Male healthy Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned to the asphyxial group (cardiac arrest of 6 min, n=15), ventricular fibrillation group (cardiac arrest of 6 min, n=15) and sham group (n=5). Neurologic deficit scores and tape removal test were evaluated at 1, 3 and 7 days after cardiopulmonary resuscitation from three groups. Serum S-100B and brain histopathologic damage scores were also examined. Results: There were no differences in neurologic performance at 1, 3 and 7 days after cardiopulmonary resuscitation between the asphyxial group and ventricular fibrillation group (P>0.05, respectively). Serum S-100B level was higher in the asphyxial group at 1, 3 and 7 days, compared with the ventricular fibrillation group (P<0.05, respectively). There were significantly higher histopathologic damage scores at 1, 3 and 7 days in the asphyxial group compared with the ventricular fibrillation group (P<0.05, respectively). Conclusion: Asphyxial cardiac arrest has worse morphologic brain damage compared with ventricular fibrillation cardiac arrest, but the functional brain damage caused by asphyxial cardiac arrest is similar to that caused by ventricular fibrillation cardiac arrest. Neurology Asia 2013; 18(3) : 303 – 309