How to manage out-of-hospital cardiac arrest depends on system-level characteristics.
For out-of-hospital cardiac arrest victims, should defibrillation be delayed during a period of initial cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to “prime the heart”? A large randomized trial found that this approach did not improve outcomes (NEJM JW Emerg Med 2011 Sep 9). But, investigators have reanalyzed data from that trial to determine whether the conclusion applies across all participating prehospital care systems.
The original study randomized some 9300 patients to receive either <1 minute of CPR (and defibrillation, if indicated) or 3 minutes of CPR before rhythm analysis. The study analysis showed that survival to hospital discharge with favorable neurologic function was the same in both groups.
The current study evaluated whether a juris…
Reviewing Author
DisclosuresConsultant/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
DisclosuresConsultant/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