Acute stimulus-sensitive postanoxic myoclonus: the importance of sensory stimulation in comatose patients.
We describe the case of a 69-year-old woman admitted to our intensive care unit (ICU) after 20 minutes of resuscitation from acute cardiopulmonary arrest. The patient developed a stimulus-sensitive postanoxic myoclonus in the following hours. The electroencephalogram (EEG) showed diffuse bursts of sharp activity against a completely suppressed background. This case report highlights the importance of carrying out a protocol of multiple and multimodal sensory stimulation when recording an EEG in comatose patients admitted to the ICU.
Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Marqués de Valdecilla University Hospital, Santander, Cantabria, Spain. jlfernandez@humv.es
José L
JL
Fernández-Torre
Miguel A
MA
Hernández-Hernández
D000208:Acute Disease; D000368:Aged; D016887:Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation; D003128:Coma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D002534:Hypoxia, Brain / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009207:Myoclonus / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010812:Physical Stimulation / Q000379:methods