Frontiers in Medicine (Mar 2022)

Gray-White Matter Ratio at the Level of the Basal Ganglia as a Predictor of Neurologic Outcomes in Cardiac Arrest Survivors: A Literature Review

  • Fating Zhou,
  • Fating Zhou,
  • Hongxia Wang,
  • Hongxia Wang,
  • Mengyao Jian,
  • Mengyao Jian,
  • Zhiyuan Wang,
  • Zhiyuan Wang,
  • Yarong He,
  • Yarong He,
  • Haizhen Duan,
  • Haizhen Duan,
  • Lu Gan,
  • Lu Gan,
  • Yu Cao,
  • Yu Cao

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2022.847089
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9

Abstract

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Loss of gray-white matter discrimination is the primary early imaging finding within of cranial computed tomography in cardiac arrest survivors, and this has been also regarded as a novel predictor for evaluating neurologic outcome. As displayed clearly on computed tomography and based on sensitivity to hypoxia, the gray-white matter ratio at basal ganglia (GWR-BG) region was frequently detected to assess the neurologic outcome by several studies. The specificity of GWR-BG is 72.4 to 100%, while the sensitivity is significantly different. Herein we review the mechanisms mediating cerebral edema following cardiac arrest, demonstrate the determination procedures with respect to GWR-BG, summarize the related researches regarding GWR-BG in predicting neurologic outcomes within cardiac arrest survivors, and discuss factors associated with predicting the accuracy of this methodology. Finally, we describe the effective measurements to increase the sensitivity of GWR-BG in predicting neurologic outcome.

Keywords