European Society of Cardiology
European Society of Cardiology 2026: Blood marker may help predict cognitive decline after cardiac arrest
A study presented at ESC Acute CardioVascular Care 2026, the annual congress of the Association for Acute CardioVascular Care (ACVC) of the European Society of Cardiology, highlights neurofilament light chain (NfL) as a promising early biomarker for predicting long‑term cognitive impairment after out‑of‑hospital cardiac arrest. According to investigators, the brain remains highly susceptible to hypoxic–ischemic injury after resuscitation, yet the commonly used marker neuron‑specific enolase (NSE) suffers from reliability concerns because elevations may stem from non‑neurologic sources.
The analysis leveraged blood samples from comatose survivors enrolled in the Blood Pressure and Oxygenation Targets after Cardiac Arrest (BOX) trial, examining NfL and NSE levels drawn 48 hours post‑arrest and pairing them with subsequent cognitive outcomes measured using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). Higher NfL levels demonstrated a clear inverse correlation with MoCA scores, indicating worse cognitive function months later. In contrast, NSE showed no meaningful association with long‑term cognition.
Further validation and assay standardization remain necessary before widespread clinical implementation.
Source:
(2026, March 21). European Society of Cardiology. Novel blood marker may help predict cognitive impairment after a cardiac arrest [Press release]. https://www.escardio.org/news/press/press-releases/acvc-press2/