Predicting the outcome of a comatose patient at the bedside

The call to the bedside and the prognostication of a comatose patient—telling family members what to expect—commonly falls to neurologists. The assessment is often confounded by the treatment paradigms of modern intensive care (ie, drugs, drug interactions and targeted temperature management). Patients may be too unstable to leave the intensive care unit for neuroimaging; thus, repeated clinical examinations are decisive. Despite diverse causes,...