No Advantage of Vasopressin for Cardiac Arrest

Survival to hospital discharge was similar in patients treated with vasopressin or epinephrine.

Current advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) guidelines recommend giving epinephrine every 3 to 5 minutes for patients in cardiac arrest. Vasopressin may replace the first or second epinephrine dose. Several studies have found no survival benefit for vasopressin (JW Emerg Med Jul 2 2008), but some investigators speculate that it might be advantageous in patients with prolonged arrest.

Investigators in Singapore randomized 727 patients with nontraumatic cardiac arrest to receive epinephrine (1 mg) or vasopressin (40 IU) as the first medication while ACLS proceeded in standard fashion. Arrest occurred outside the hospital in 585 patients (80%), and their mean time to emergency department arrival was 38 minutes. There were no significant differ…

Reviewing Author

Daniel J. Pallin, MD, MPH

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardPortola Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Speaker’s BureauPeerView Institute for Medical Education

Grant/Research SupportAgency for Healthcare Research and Quality; CDC; NIH–National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences; NIH–National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID); NIH–NIAID–Antibacterial Resistance Leadership Group; Merck; Pfizer; Boehringer-Ingelheim; Shire; Portola Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Novartis; bioMérieux; Siemens; Rapid Pathogen Screening; Magnolia; Stago; Innovative Biosensors; Molecular Detection, Inc.; Dyax Corp.; Trius Pharmaceuticals

Daniel J. Pallin, MD, MPH

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardPortola Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Speaker’s BureauPeerView Institute for Medical Education