Cardiac arrest patients in coma after restoration of spontaneous circulation were prospectively studied to determine whether variability in structural connectivity can discriminate patients likely to recover consciousness from those who will not. Compared to healthy controls, cardiac arrest patients overall had significantly lower values in the following structural connectivity parameters: global efficiency, clustering coefficient, and degree. Cardiac arrest patients who failed to recover alertness had a significantly lower global clustering coefficient compared to patients who woke up. Alterations in structural connectivity may play an important role in predicting recovery and guiding patient management decisions in comatose cardiac arrest patients.
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