Background:
Despite advances in out- of- hospital resuscitation practices, the prognosis of most patients after a cardiac arrest remains poor. The long term outcomes of patients successfully resuscitated from cardiac arrest are often complicated by neurological dysfunction. Therapeutic hypothermia has significantly improved neurological outcomes in patients successfully resuscitated from out- of- hospital cardiac arrests. The objective of this study was to look into the neurological outcomes in inpatients after successful cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in a university hospital setting.
Methods:
This was a retrospective observational study of 68 adult patients who experienced cardiac or respiratory arrest over an 18 month period at a metropolitan teaching hospital with dedicated, trained code teams. Arrests that occurred in the Emergency Department, Critical Care Units or Operating Rooms were excluded.
Results:
Of the 68 consecutive patients included in this study, 53% were resuscitated successfully. However, only 12 (18%) survived to discharge from the hospital and only 6 (10%) were discharged with intact neurological status. The initial survival was better in patients who received prompt CPR and in those with less co - morbidities. Pulseless electrical activity (PEA) or asystole were the most common rhythms (47% of the arrests). Most patients who survived and were neurologically intact had PEA (67%). We believe that most PEA arrests were more likely severe hypotension with the inability to palpate a pulse rather than true PEA. The mean time to defibrillation for all patients with an initial shockable rhythm (n=5) was 8.2 minutes. Patients who had an initial shockable rhythm and survived to discharge were shocked within 1 minute (n=2).
Conclusion:
Despite advances in critical care, survival from inpatient cardiopulmonary arrest to neurologically intact discharge remains poor. Therapeutic hypothermia should be expanded to those resuscitated from in - hospital cardiopulmonary arrest to determine if neurological outcomes would improve.
Association between lymphocyte count and neurological outcomes in post-cardiac arrest patients treated with mild therapeutic hypothermia
