Plea for Enhancing Neuronal Survival by Neurophysiologic Monitoring
1 East Tennessee Children's Hospital, Knoxville
Drs Nussbaum and Maggi provide us with thought-provoking information in their prospective study of nearly drowned children who incurred severe anoxic ischemic encephalopathy and were in a flaccid state of coma on admission to the pediatric intensive care unit. In their discussion, they note that there is not a uniform approach to management of severely comatose, nearly drowned children. Although the rationale for the protective role of barbiturates in the presence of anoxic-ischemic encephalopathy has a strong scientific basis, results of their study indicate that clinical outcome of patients treated with barbiturates does not support the scientific basis for their use.




