Vasopressin Not Helpful for Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest

The ideal drug regimen for use in CPR is a subject of controversy. Epinephrine is the recommended vasopressor agent, but results of some studies suggest that combining epinephrine with vasopressin, a peptide involved in regulating fluid volume, may confer additional benefit. Current guidelines do not endorse the use of vasopressin in CPR.

Investigators analyzed data on 2894 patients in France who experienced out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and were randomized to receive successive injections of 1 mg of epinephrine and either 40 IU of vasopressin or saline placebo. The primary outcome was survival to hospital admission. The average patient age was about 62, and about three quarters of the events were witnessed. The mean time from collapse to a…