Improving Survival After In-Hospital Cardiac Arrest: The Australian Experience

2007 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 240-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robyn Peters ◽  
Mary Boyde

Background Survival rates after in-hospital cardiac arrest have not improved markedly despite improvements in technology and resuscitation training. Objectives To investigate clinical variables that influence return of spontaneous circulation and survival to discharge after in-hospital cardiac arrest. Methods An Utstein-style resuscitation template was implemented in a 750-bed hospital. Data on 158 events were collected from January 2004 through November 2004. Significant variables were analyzed by using a multiple logistic regression model. Results Of the 158 events, 128 were confirmed cardiac arrests. Return of spontaneous circulation occurred in 69 cases (54%), and the patient survived to discharge in 41 (32%). An initial shockable rhythm was present in 42 cases (33%), with a return of spontaneous circulation in 32 (76%) and survival to discharge in 24 (57%). An initial nonshockable rhythm was present in the remaining 86 cases (67%), with a return of spontaneous circulation in 37 (43%) and survival to discharge in 17 (20%). Witnessed or monitored arrests (P=.006), time to arrival of the cardiac arrest team (P=.002), afternoon shift (P=.02), and initial shockable rhythm (P=.005) were independently associated with return of spontaneous circulation. Location of patient in a critical care area (P=.002), initial shockable rhythm (P<.001), and length of resuscitation (P=.02) were independently associated with survival to hospital discharge. Conclusions The high rate of survival to discharge after cardiac arrest is attributed to extensive education and the incorporation of semiautomatic external defibrillators into basic life support management.

Circulation ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 116 (suppl_16) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynn J White ◽  
Sarah A Cantrell ◽  
Robert Cronin ◽  
Shawn Koser ◽  
David Keseg ◽  
...  

Introduction Long pauses without chest compressions (CC) have been identified in CPR provided by EMS professionals for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OOHCA). The 2005 AHA ECC CPR guidelines emphasize CC. The 2005 AHA Basic Life Support (BLS) for Healthcare Professionals (HCP) course introduced a training method with more CPR skills practice during the DVD based course. The purpose of this before/after study was to determine whether CC rates increased after introduction of the 2005 course. Methods This urban EMS system has 400 cardiac etiology OOHCA events annually. A convenience sample of 49 continuous electronic ECG recordings of VF patients was analyzed with the impedance channel of the LIFEPAK 12 (Physio-Control, Redmond WA) and proprietary software. A trained researcher verified the automated analysis. Each CC during the resuscitation attempt and pauses in CC before and after the first defibrillation shock were noted. The time of return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) was determined by medical record review and onset of regular electrical activity without CC. Medical records were reviewed for outcome to hospital discharge. The EMS patient care protocol for VF was changed on July 1, 2006 to comply with the 2005 AHA ECC guidelines. Cases were grouped by the OOHCA date: 9/2004 to 12/31/2006 (pre) and 7/1/2006 to 4/21/2007 (post). EMS personnel began taking the 2005 BLS for HCP course during spring 2006. Monthly courses over 3 years will recertify 1500 personnel. Results 29 cases were analyzed from the pre group and 20 from the post group. Compressions per minute increased from a mean (±SD) of 47 ± 16 pre to 75 ± 33 post (P < 0.01). The mean count of shocks given per victim decreased from 4.5 ± 4.0 pre to 2.8 ± 1.8 post (P < 0.04). The CC pause before the first shock was unchanged (23.6 ± 18.4 seconds to 22.1 ± 17.9). but the CC pause following that shock decreased significantly from 48.7 ± 63.2 to 11.8 ± 22.5 (p=0.008). Rates of ROSC (55% pre, 50% post) and survival to discharge (15% pre, 13% post) were similar. Conclusion Following introduction of the 2005 BLS for HCP course and the EMS protocol change, the quality of CPR delivered to victims of OOHCA improved significantly compared with pre-2006 CPR. The sample size was too small to detect differences in survival rates.


2020 ◽  
pp. 088506662090680
Author(s):  
Natalie Achamallah ◽  
Jeffrey Fried ◽  
Rebecca Love ◽  
Yuri Matusov ◽  
Rohit Sharma

Introduction: Absence of pupillary light reflex (PLR) is a well-studied indicator of poor neurologic recovery after cardiac arrest. Interpretation of absent PLR is difficult in patients with hypothermia or hypotension, or who have electrolyte or acid-base disturbances. Additionally, many studies exclude patients who receive epinephrine or atropine from their analysis on the basis that these drugs are thought to abolish the PLR. This observational cohort study assessed for presence or absence of PLR in in-hospital cardiac arrest patients who received epinephrine with or without atropine during advanced cardiac life support and achieved return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC). Methods: Pupil size and reactivity were assessed in adult patients who had an in-hospital cardiac arrest, received epinephrine with or without atropine, and achieved ROSC. Measurements were taken using a NeurOptics NPi-200 infrared pupillometer. Results: Forty patients had pupillometry performed within 1 hour (median: 6 minutes) after ROSC. Of these only 1 (2.5%) patient had nonreactive pupils at first measurement after ROSC. The remaining 39 (97.5%) had reactive pupils. Of the 19 patients who had pupils checked within 3 minutes of ROSC, 100% had reactive pupils. Degree of pupil responsiveness was not correlated with cumulative dose of epinephrine. Ten patients received atropine in addition to epinephrine, including the sole patient with nonreactive pupils. The remaining 9 (90%) had reactive pupils. Conclusion: Epinephrine and atropine do not abolish the PLR in patients who achieve ROSC after in-hospital cardiac arrest. Lack of pupillary response in the post-arrest patient should not be attributed to these drugs.


Author(s):  
Alexander Fuchs ◽  
Dominic Käser ◽  
Lorenz Theiler ◽  
Robert Greif ◽  
Jürgen Knapp ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Incidence of in-hospital cardiac arrest is reported to be 0.8 to 4.6 per 1,000 patient admissions. Patient survival to hospital discharge with favourable functional and neurological status is around 21–30%. The Bern University Hospital is a tertiary medical centre in Switzerland with a cardiac arrest team that is available 24 h per day, 7 days per week. Due to lack of central documentation of cardiac arrest team interventions, the incidence, outcomes and survival rates of cardiac arrests in the hospital are unknown. Our aim was to record all cardiac arrest team interventions over 1 year, and to analyse the outcome and survival rates of adult patients after in-hospital cardiac arrests. Methods We conducted a prospective single-centre observational study that recorded all adult in-hospital cardiac arrest team interventions over 1 year, using an Utstein-style case report form. The primary outcome was 30-day survival after in-hospital cardiac arrest. Secondary outcomes were return of spontaneous circulation, neurological status (after return of spontaneous circulation, after 24 h, after 30 days, after 1 and 5 years), according to the Glasgow Outcomes Scale, and functional status at 30 days and 1 year, according to the Short-form-12 Health Survey. Results The cardiac arrest team had 146 interventions over the study year, which included 60 non-life-threatening alarms (41.1%). The remaining 86 (58.9%) acute life-threatening situations included 68 (79.1%) as patients with cardiac arrest. The mean age of these cardiac arrest patients was 68 ± 13 years, with a male predominance (51/68; 75.0%). Return of spontaneous circulation was recorded in 49 patients (72.1%). Over one-third of the cardiac arrest patients (27/68) were alive after 30 days with favourable neurological outcome. The patients who survived the first year lived also to 5 years after the event with favourable neurological and functional status. Conclusions The in-hospital cardiac arrest incidence on a large tertiary Swiss university hospital was 1.56 per 1000 patient admissions. After a cardiac arrest, about a third of the patients survived to 5 years with favourable neurological and functional status. Alarms unrelated to life-threatening situations are common and need to be taken into count within a low-threshold alarming system. Trial Registration: The trial was registered in clinicaltrials.gov (NCT02746640).


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Fuchs ◽  
Dominic Käser ◽  
Lorenz Theiler ◽  
Robert Greif ◽  
Jürgen Knapp ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Incidence of in-hospital cardiac arrest is reported to be 0.8 to 4.6 per 1,000 patient admissions. Patient survival to hospital discharge with favourable functional and neurological status is around 21%. The Bern University Hospital is a tertiary medical centre in Switzerland with a cardiac arrest team from the Department of Anaesthesiology and Pain Medicine that is available 24 h per day, 7 days per week. Due to lack of central documentation of cardiac arrest team interventions, the incidence, outcomes and survival rates of cardiac arrests are unknown. The aim was thus to record all cardiac arrest team interventions over 1 year, and to analyse the outcome and survival rates of adult patients after in-hospital cardiac arrests.Methods: We conducted a prospective single-centre observational study that recorded all adult in-hospital cardiac arrest team interventions over 1 year, using an Utstein-style case report form. The primary outcome was 30-day survival after in-hospital cardiac arrest. Secondary outcomes were return of spontaneous circulation, neurological status (after return of spontaneous circulation, after 24 h, after 30 days and 1 year), according to the Glasgow Outcomes Scale, and functional status at 30 days and 1 year, according to the Short-form-12 Health Survey.Results: The cardiac arrest team had 146 interventions over the study year, which included 60 non-life-threatening alarms (41.1%). The remaining 86 (58.9%) acute life-threatening situations included 68 (79.1%) as patients with cardiac arrest. The mean age of these cardiac arrest patients was 68 ±13 years, with a male predominance (51/68; 75.0%). Return of spontaneous circulation was recorded in 49 patients (72.1%). Over one-third of the cardiac arrest patients (27/68) were alive after 30 days with favourable neurological outcome. The patients who survived to 1 year after the event showed favourable neurological and functional status. Conclusions: The in-hospital cardiac arrest incidence on a large tertiary Swiss university hospital was 1.56 per 1,000 patient admissions. After a cardiac arrest, about a third of the patients survived to 1 year with favourable neurological and functional status. Early recognition and high-quality cardiopulmonary resuscitation provided by a well-organised team is crucial for patient survival.Trial Registration: The trial was registered in clinicaltrials.gov (NCT02746640).


Acta Medica ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Alp Şener ◽  
Gül Pamukçu Günaydın ◽  
Fatih Tanrıverdi

Objective: In cardiac arrest cases, high quality cardiopulmonary resuscitation and effective chest compression are vital issues in improving survival with good neurological outcomes. In this study, we investigated the effect of mechanical chest compression devices on 30- day survival in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Materials and Methods: This retrospective case-control study was performed on patients who were over 18 years of age and admitted to the emergency department for cardiac arrest between January 1, 2016 and January 15, 2018. Manual chest compression was performed to the patients before January 15, 2017, and mechanical chest compression was performed after this date. Return of spontaneous circulation, hospital discharge, and 30-day survival rates were compared between the groups of patients in terms of chest compression type. In this study, the LUCAS-2 model piston-based mechanical chest compression device was used for mechanical chest compressions. Results: The rate of return of spontaneous circulation was significantly lower in the mechanical chest compression group (11.1% vs 33.1%; p < 0.001). The 30-day survival rate was higher in the manual chest compression group (6.8% vs 3.7%); however, this difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.542). Furthermore, 30-day survival was 0% in the trauma group and 0.6% in the patient group who underwent cardiopulmonary resuscitation for over 20 minutes. Conclusion: It can be seen that the effect of mechanical chest compression on survival is controversial; studies on this issue should continue and, furthermore, studies on the contribution of mechanical chest compression on labor loss should be conducted.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (16) ◽  
pp. 3583
Author(s):  
Styliani Syntila ◽  
Georgios Chatzis ◽  
Birgit Markus ◽  
Holger Ahrens ◽  
Christian Waechter ◽  
...  

Our aim was to compare the outcomes of Impella with extracorporeal life support (ECLS) in patients with post-cardiac arrest cardiogenic shock (CS) complicating acute myocardial infarction (AMI). This was a retrospective study of patients resuscitated from out of hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) with post-cardiac arrest CS following AMI (May 2015 to May 2020). Patients were supported either with Impella 2.5/CP or ECLS. Outcomes were compared using propensity score-matched analysis to account for differences in baseline characteristics between groups. 159 patients were included (Impella, n = 105; ECLS, n = 54). Hospital and 12-month survival rates were comparable in the Impella and the ECLS groups (p = 0.16 and p = 0.3, respectively). After adjustment for baseline differences, both groups demonstrated comparable hospital and 12-month survival (p = 0.36 and p = 0.64, respectively). Impella patients had a significantly greater left ventricle ejection-fraction (LVEF) improvement at 96 h (p < 0.01 vs. p = 0.44 in ECLS) and significantly fewer device-associated complications than ECLS patients (15.2% versus 35.2%, p < 0.01 for relevant access site bleeding, 7.6% versus 20.4%, p = 0.04 for limb ischemia needing intervention). In subgroup analyses, Impella was associated with better survival in patients with lower-risk features (lactate < 8.6 mmol/L, time from collapse to return of spontaneous circulation < 28 min, vasoactive score < 46 and Horowitz index > 182). In conclusion, the use of Impella 2.5/CP or ECLS in post-cardiac arrest CS after AMI was associated with comparable adjusted hospital and 12-month survival. Impella patients had a greater LVEF improvement than ECLS patients. Device-related access-site complications occurred more frequently in patients with ECLS than Impella support.


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 53
Author(s):  
Styliani Papadopoulou ◽  
Olympia Konstantakopoulou ◽  
Antonia Kalogianni ◽  
Martha Kelesi-Stavropoulou ◽  
Theodore Kapadohos

Introduction: Cardiac arrest is an urgent situation that, despite the improved resuscitation capabilities, the survival rate of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest victims remains low.Aim: Τo investigate the survival rate of the incoming patients with cardiac arrest in the cardiology infirmary of the emergency department of a public hospital.Material-Method: The study included 210 patients who were transferred pulseless and breathless at the cardiology infirmary of the emergency department of “Tzaneio” Hospital, Piraeus, during the period April 2017 - November 2018. Data was collected from the National Center of Emergency Dispatch's printed forms, as well as from the patients’ admission book of the emergency department.Results: More than 10% (11.9%) of patients with cardiac arrest returned to spontaneous circulation in the emergency department, of which 16% was discharged. Patients with known cardiac history, (p=0.002), with a shockable rhythm (p<0.001), and especially ventricular fibrillation (p<0.001) upon arrival at the emergency room, and patients who were defibrillated at the ambulance during admission and at the emergency room, were more likely to survive (p<0.001). No statistically significant correlation was found between the factors studied and survival after cardiac arrest, in the group of patients that were discharged.Conclusions: The survival rate of the incoming patients with cardiac arrest at the emergency department of “Tzaneio” Hospital, Piraeus, was low. As for most health systems, this issue constitutes a fairly complex public health problem. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation and corresponding guidelines require further improvement in order for the survival rates of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients to increase.


Circulation ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 132 (suppl_3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Xiong ◽  
Ahamed H Idris

Background: Prompt defibrillation is critical for termination of ventricular fibrillation (VF) or pulseless ventricular tachycardia (VT) in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). For ethical reasons, the real impact of not shocking OHCA patients with a shockable rhythm is unlikely to be investigated in clinical trials and thus remains unknown. Objectives: To describe demographics, pre-hospital characteristics, interventions, and outcomes in OHCA patients with an initially shockable rhythm who did and did not get shocked in the field in DFW ROC site. Methods: We included all non-traumatic OHCA cases ≥18 years old with VF or VT as first known rhythms, who were treated and transported to a hospital within the DFW ROC site between 2006 - 2011. We report return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) in the field and survival to hospital discharge for victims with and without shock delivered in the field. Multiple variable regression analysis assessed the association between shock delivery and ROSC in the field as well as survival. Results: Included were 882 adult non-traumatic OHCA cases with VF or VT as first known rhythms; mean (±SD) age was 60 ± 15 years, 71% male, bystander witnessed 56%, bystander resuscitation attempt 43%, public arrest location 26%, EMS response time 4.7 ± 2.3 min, 26.9% (237) had ROSC in the field, 14.9% (131) survived to hospital discharge; 93.4% (824) of all patients were shocked, while 6.6% (58) were not shocked. Of the 6.6% (58) who were not shocked, 12.1% (7) achieved ROSC in the field and 8.6% (5) survived to hospital discharge. For those not shocked in the field, the unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios for ROSC were 0.354 (95% CI 0.158-0.791, p=0.011) and 0.189 (95% CI 0.039-0.911, p=0.038), respectively; and for survival to hospital discharge they were 0.522 (95% CI 0.205-1.331, p=0.173) and 0.498 (95% CI 0.088-2.810, p=0.430), respectively. Conclusions: In the DFW ROC site, 6.6% of OHCA victims with an initially shockable rhythm did not receive a shock, which was significantly associated with decreased ROSC in the field. More patients survived who were shocked in the field, but this difference was not significant after adjustment for Utstein variables.


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