Cerebral oximetry is a Food and Drug Administration-approved technology that allows monitoring of brain oxygen saturation in accessible superficial brain cortex regions, which are amongst the most vulnerable in regard to ischemic or hypoxic injury. Since most oxygen in the area of interest is located in the venous compartment, the determined regional brain oxygen saturation approximately reflects the local balance between oxygen delivery and oxygen consumption. Major systemic alterations in blood oxygen content and oxygen delivery will be accompanied by corresponding changes in regional brain saturation. This systematic review, which is based on a Medline search, focuses on the characteristic changes in regional cerebral oxygen saturation that occur, when global oxygen supply to the brain ceases. It further highlights the potential application of cerebral oximetry in the management of cardiac arrest victims, the predictability of clinical outcome after global cerebral ischemia, and it also indicates possible potentials for the management of cerebral reperfusion after having instituted return of spontaneous circulation.
Keywords: brain injury; brain oximetry; cerebral oximetry; circulatory arrest; critical care; near infrared spectroscopy; neurological monitoring; oxygen delivery; reperfusion injury.