Petzinka VN, et al. - In cardiac arrest (CA) patients discharged from the intensive care unit (ICU) in an unresponsive wakefulness syndrome (UWS) or coma, researchers assessed the clinical course and early prognostic markers. They analyzed 89 patients from a prospective CA database and assessed that patients discharged in UWS after prolonged ICU treatment rarely achieve neurological recovery. One potential reason for delayed awakening included status epilepticus that required prolonged deep sedation. They noted moderate sensitivity for established poor outcome parameters to predict persistent UWS early after CA. Somatosensory evoked potential, electroencephalography and neuron-specific enolase may indicate absence of severe HIE early after CA.