Still No Benefit from Prehospital Initiation of Therapeutic Hypothermia for Cardiac Arrest

At least not when chilled intravenous fluids are used.

Therapeutic hypothermia is recommended for patients with return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) after cardiac arrest. Animal studies suggest that earlier initiation of hypothermia increases efficacy, but studies of prehospital initiation of therapeutic hypothermia in humans have not shown benefit (NEJM JW Emerg Med Jan 2014 and JAMA 2014; 311:45; and Circulation 2016; 134:797). These researchers performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of published randomized, controlled trials of prehospital therapeutic hypothermia.

Trials involving children and pregnant patients were excluded. Eleven trials with 4891 patients were included in the meta-analysis. Most studies (8) used chilled intravenous fluids for cooling. Rates of hospital surviva…

Reviewing Author

Benton R. Hunter, MD

Disclosures

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesSociety for Academic Emergency Medicine (Chair, Evidence Based Healthcare Interest Group)

Benton R. Hunter, MD

Disclosures

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesSociety for Academic Emergency Medicine (Chair, Evidence Based Healthcare Interest Group)

Still No Benefit from Prehospital Initiation of Therapeutic Hypothermia for Cardiac Arrest

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Reviewing Author