New MRI Techniques Help Predict Neuro Outcomes

The researchers concluded that by carrying out MRI-based measurements of the functional connections in the brain they could better predict long-term recovery for those patients who suffered from a neurological disability following a cardiac arrest. The results also showed that connectivity measures could provide early markers of long-term recovery potential in such patients.

Lead author of the study, Robert D. Stevens, MD, said, “This is game-changing information about what happens in the brains of people who suffer cardiac arrest. We realize that network architectures can be selectively disrupted in this setting. Anti-correlation was preserved in patients who recovered and abolished in those who did not. Relative preservation of this anti-correlation was the most robust signal of a favorable outcome. Connectome studies have the potential to change not only outcome prediction, but to guide treatment as well."

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Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine