Latsios G, Sanidas E, Velliou M, Kalogridaki M, Bounas P, Synetos A, Aggeli C, Toutouzas K, Tsioufis C. Post-cardiac arrest imaging: Unraveling etiology and predicting neurological outcome. World J Radiol 2025; 17(9): 111884 [PMID: 41025060 DOI: 10.4329/wjr.v17.i9.111884]
Corresponding Author of This Article
George Latsios, MD, PhD, Chief Physician, FESC, 1st Department of Cardiology, “Hippokration” General Hospital, Athens Medical School, Alexandroupoleos 9, Athens 11527, Greece. glatsios@gmail.com
Research Domain of This Article
Emergency Medicine
Article-Type of This Article
Minireviews
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Radiol. Sep 28, 2025; 17(9): 111884 Published online Sep 28, 2025. doi: 10.4329/wjr.v17.i9.111884
Post-cardiac arrest imaging: Unraveling etiology and predicting neurological outcome
George Latsios, Elias Sanidas, Maria Velliou, Marina Kalogridaki, Pavlos Bounas, Andreas Synetos, Constantina Aggeli, Konstantinos Toutouzas, Costas Tsioufis
George Latsios, Andreas Synetos, Constantina Aggeli, Konstantinos Toutouzas, Costas Tsioufis, 1st Department of Cardiology, “Hippokration” General Hospital, Athens Medical School, Athens 11527, Greece
Elias Sanidas, Department of Cardiology, “Laiko” General Hospital, Athens 11527, Greece
Maria Velliou, Department of Emergency Medicine, “Attikon” University Hospital, Athens 12462, Greece
Marina Kalogridaki, Venizelio-Pananio General Hospital, Heraklion 71409, Greece
Pavlos Bounas, Department of Cardiology, "Thriasio" General Hospital, Elefsina 19600, Greece
Author contributions: Latsios G, Sanidas E, and Velliou M contributed to the conceptualization of this manuscript; Latsios G, Sanidas E, Velliou M, Kalogridaki M, Bounas P, Synetos A participated in the writing and review; Latsios G, Aggeli C, Toutouzas K and Tsioufis C contributed to the review and supervision of this manuscript. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: George Latsios, MD, PhD, Chief Physician, FESC, 1st Department of Cardiology, “Hippokration” General Hospital, Athens Medical School, Alexandroupoleos 9, Athens 11527, Greece. glatsios@gmail.com
Received: July 14, 2025 Revised: August 17, 2025 Accepted: August 27, 2025 Published online: September 28, 2025 Processing time: 77 Days and 0.2 Hours
Abstract
Cardiac arrest is associated with high rates of mortality and significant long-term neurological disability in survivors. Timely and accurate assessment following successful resuscitation is critical for optimizing outcomes. Imaging plays a central role in this evaluation process, providing crucial insights into the etiology of arrest, the extent of cerebral and cardiac injury, and guiding both acute management and long-term prognostication. A structured, multimodal imaging approach utilizing tools such as computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, echocardiography, and angiography is increasingly recognized as essential in the post-cardiac arrest setting. This review aims to consolidate current evidence related to the use of various imaging modalities across neurological, cardiac and systemic contexts. Particular emphasis is placed on the prognostic value and optimal timing of neuroimaging, the detection of potentially reversible causes of arrest, such as coronary occlusion or pulmonary embolism, and the emerging role of whole-body imaging in evaluating patients with non-traumatic out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.
