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Adrenaline has been used to treat patients with cardiac arrest for more than half a century but has not been evaluated in a placebo-controlled clinical trial in humans. Indeed, there is concern that it might have untoward effects on myocardial function and cerebral microcirculation in postcardiac arrest patients. In the first randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of adrenaline in cardiac-arrest patients, researchers in Australia randomized 534 adults (mean age, 65; 73% men) with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest from any cause to receive 1 mL of either adrenaline 1:1000 (i.e., 1 mg) or normal saline every 3 minutes to a maximum of 10 mL. No other resuscitation drugs were given. Paramedics were allowed to use other standard methods…