Burst-suppression is reactive to photic stimulation in comatose children with acquired brain injury.
Burst-suppression is an electroencephalographic pattern observed during coma. In individuals without known brain pathologies undergoing deep general anesthesia, somatosensory stimulation transiently increases the occurrence of bursts. We investigated the reactivity of burst-suppression in children with acquired brain injury.



Intensive care unit electroencephalographic monitoring recordings containing burst-suppression were obtained from 5 comatose children with acquired brain injury of various etiologies. Intermittent photic stimulation was performed at 1Hz for 1min to assess reactivity. We quantified reactivity by measuring the change in the burst ratio (fraction of time in burst) following photic stimulation.



Photic stimulation evoked bursts in all patients, resulting in a transient increase in the burst ratio, while the mean heart rate remained unchanged. The regression slope of the change in burst ratio, referred to as the standardized burst ratio reactivity, correlated with subjects' Glasgow Coma Scale scores.



Reactivity of the burst-suppression pattern to photic stimulation occurs across diverse coma etiologies. Standardized burst ratio reactivity appears to reflect coma severity.



Measurement of burst ratio reactivity could represent a simple method to monitor coma severity in critically ill children.
Division of Neurology and Program in Neurosciences and Mental Health, The Hospital for Sick Children, and Department of Paediatrics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
Dragos A
DA
Nita
Department of Neuroscience and Pharmacology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark; Division of Physiology and Fundamental Neuroscience, "Carol Davila" University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest, Romania.
Mihai
M
Moldovan
Division of Neurology and Program in Neurosciences and Mental Health, The Hospital for Sick Children, and Department of Paediatrics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
Roy
R
Sharma
Department of Anaesthesia, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, and Department of Anaesthesia, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
Sinziana
S
Avramescu
Division of Neurology and Program in Neurosciences and Mental Health, The Hospital for Sick Children, and Department of Paediatrics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
Hiroshi
H
Otsubo
Division of Neurology and Program in Neurosciences and Mental Health, The Hospital for Sick Children, and Department of Paediatrics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada. Electronic address: cecil.hahn@sickkids.ca.
Cecil D
CD
Hahn
D000293:Adolescent; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000503:physiopathology*; D058256:Brain Waves / Q000502:physiology*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003128:Coma / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D008297:Male; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D012189:Retrospective Studies
Burst-suppression; Children; Coma; EEG; Reactivity