Annals of emergency medicine
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Real-time hemodynamic monitoring provides useful information that can be used to assess and optimize mechanical and pharmacological interventions during CPR. The standard algorithms should always be the initial approach to resuscitation, because they offer a rapid, logical, coordinated series of treatments with proven success. Pressure and flow measurements during conventional, closed-chest CPR in humans indicate that the technique typically produces a hemodynamic state resembling profound cardiogenic shock, with a low systemic arterial pressure, markedly reduced cardiac output, and high intravascular filling pressures. ⋯ If one or more hemodynamic parameters are being monitored at the time the patient develops cardiac arrest (eg, an intensive care unit patient who has an arterial line and a pulmonary artery catheter in place), it is appropriate for the resuscitation team to pay attention to the data that are generated during the resuscitation, particularly if the initial algorithm approach is not successful. For patients who are not being monitored at the time of their arrest, end-tidal carbon dioxide measurements provide noninvasive, semiquantitative information that can help the team detect and troubleshoot problems during resuscitation. Further research and better, more affordable technologies are needed to provide in- and out-of-hospital resuscitation teams feedback on the hemodynamic effectiveness of their resuscitative efforts.
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At present, fewer than 10% of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) attempts prehospital or in hospitals outside special care units result in survival without brain damage. Minimizing response times and optimizing CPR performance would improve results. A breakthrough, however, can be expected to occur only when cerebral resuscitation research has achieved consistent conscious survival after normothermic cardiac arrest (no flow) times of not only five minutes but up to ten minutes. ⋯ More than ten drug treatments evaluated have not reproducibly mitigated brain damage in such animal models. Controlled clinical trials of novel CPCR treatments reveal feasibility and side effects but, in the absence of a breakthrough effect, may not discriminate between a treatment's ability to mitigate brain damage in selected cases and the absence of any treatment effect. More intensified, coordinated, multicenter cerebral resuscitation research is justified.
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Review
Pediatric resuscitation pharmacology. Members of the Medications in Pediatric Resuscitation Panel.
The goal of resuscitation pharmacology is to restart the heart as quickly as possible while preserving vital organ function during chest compression. Unfortunately, the application of advanced life support to pediatric cardiac arrest patients is often unsuccessful. The goal of this paper is to review the scientific rationale and educational considerations used to derive the guidelines for medication use in the pediatric patient during CPR. ⋯ This includes the use of high-dose epinephrine, calcium, bicarbonate, and other buffer agents such as Carbicarb and THAM. Animal models simulating the etiology and pathophysiology of pediatric arrest also are needed. In both clinical and animal studies, neurologic outcome and long-term survival should be assessed rather than simply the rate of restoration of spontaneous circulation.
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The ethics panel of the American Heart Association recommended that ethical values, including patient autonomy and provider advocacy, should guide the provision of advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) and emergency cardiac care (ECC). The panel developed guidelines regarding the institution and withdrawal of basic life support, ACLS, and the criteria for the determination of death. A discussion of futility, No-CPR orders, living wills, advance directives, and their impact on ECC is included.
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Review Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
The use of antiarrhythmics in advanced cardiac life support.
Antiarrhythmic agents have been used to treat malignant ventricular arrhythmias in the setting of acute myocardial ischemia with proven efficacy for many years. Thus, it has been presumed that these agents would be efficacious for the treatment of cardiac arrest. Unfortunately, hard data supporting this contention are unavailable to date. ⋯ However, given the importance of magnesium and potassium levels in the genesis of malignant arrhythmias, their levels in plasma should be assessed, and abnormalities should be promptly corrected. The potential uses of antiarrhythmic agents during advanced cardiac life support span a remarkably diverse number of applications. For the purpose of this review, only the use of these agents during CPR and during the early hours of acute or suspected acute myocardial infarction will be considered.