Loading...
Immediate cardiac catheterization for cardiac arrest survivors with acute ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) is standard practice, but whether it is beneficial in postarrest patients without STEMI is unclear. Investigators retrospectively analyzed data from 269 comatose adult patients at six U.S. medical centers who were treated with therapeutic hypothermia after cardiac arrest due to ventricular arrhythmia without evidence of STEMI on electrocardiogram (ECG).
Of 269 patients, 45% received early cardiac catheterization (either at hospital admission or during hypothermia treatment), 15% received catheterization later during hospitalization, and 39% did not receive catheterization. The early-catheterization group was more likel…