Acute stimulus-sensitive postanoxic myoclonus: the importance of sensory stimulation in comatose patients.

We describe the case of a 69-year-old woman admitted to our intensive care unit (ICU) after 20 minutes of resuscitation from acute cardiopulmonary arrest. The patient developed a stimulus-sensitive postanoxic myoclonus in the following hours. The electroencephalogram (EEG) showed diffuse bursts of sharp activity against a completely suppressed background. This case report highlights the importance of carrying out a protocol of multiple and multimodal sensory stimulation when recording an EEG in comatose patients admitted to the ICU.