Hypothermia-treated cardiac arrest patients with good neurological outcome differ early in quantitative variables of EEG suppression and epileptiform activity.

Objective: To evaluate electroencephalogram-derived quantitative variables after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

Design: Prospective study.

Setting: University hospital intensive care unit.

Hydroxyethyl starch as a priming solution for cardiopulmonary bypass impairs hemostasis after cardiac surgery.

Unlabelled: We investigated the influence of hydroxyethyl starch (HES) as a priming solution for the cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) circuit on postoperative hemostasis in 45 patients undergoing elective coronary artery bypass grafting. In a randomized sequence, 20 mL/kg of low-molecular-weight HES (HES 120; molecular weight 120,000 daltons), high-molecular-weight HES (HES 400; molecular weight 400,000 daltons), or 4% human albumin (ALB) was used as the main component of the CPB priming solution. The thromboelastographic values indicating the speed of solid clot formation (alpha-angle) and the strength of the fibrin clot (maximum amplitude and shear elastic modulus) were decreased up to 2 h after CPB in both HES groups.