Assessment of frontal EEG measurement in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: a prospective observational feasibility study - study protocol.

Introduction: Nowadays, managing out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) prioritises measures that achieve a good neurological outcome. Monitoring neurological function early is an essential step in identifying patients who could benefit from invasive techniques, such as extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, compared with patients suffering from irreversible hypoxic-ischaemic brain injury. Electroencephalography (EEG) has been used in the hospital; thus, its prehospital data are lacking. This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of non-invasive EEG in the prehospital environment as a potential tool for neurological assessment.

Methods And Analysis: This feasibility trial will recruit 45 OHCA patients aged 18 and over in the catchment area of the physician response unit at the University Hospital Graz, Austria. Two different measurement conditions will be assessed: (1) during the phase of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and (2) after the return of spontaneous circulation for those who achieve this condition. EEG not only has the potential to provide an early neurological prognosis for immediate treatments or outcome-related decisions but can also aid in better managing CPR-induced consciousness.

Ethics And Dissemination: The ethics committee of the Medical University of Graz (IRB00002556), decision number 35-352 ex 22/23, reviewed and approved this study protocol, registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (Identifier NCT06072092). The data generated from this research will be published openly alongside the study results.

Trial Registration Number: NCT06072092.