Document Detail


Hypothermia after cardiac arrest: expanding the therapeutic scope.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  19535951     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
Therapeutic hypothermia for 12 to 24 hrs following resuscitation from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is now recommended by the American Heart Association for the treatment of neurological injury when the initial cardiac rhythm is ventricular fibrillation. However, the role of therapeutic hypothermia is uncertain when the initial cardiac rhythm is asystole or pulseless electrical activity, or when the cardiac arrest is primarily due to a noncardiac cause, such as asphyxia or drug overdose. Given that survival rate in these latter conditions is very low, it is unlikely that clinical trials will be undertaken to test the efficacy of therapeutic hypothermia in this setting because of the very large sample size that would be required to detect a significant difference in outcomes. Therefore, in patients with anoxic brain injury after nonventricular fibrillation cardiac arrest, clinicians will need to balance the possible benefit of therapeutic hypothermia with the possible side effects of this therapy. Given that the side effects of therapeutic hypothermia are generally easily managed in the critical care setting, and there is benefit for anoxic brain injury demonstrated in laboratory studies, consideration may be given to treat comatose post-cardiac arrest patients with therapeutic hypothermia in this setting. Because the induction of therapeutic hypothermia has become more feasible with the development of simple intravenous cooling techniques and specialized equipment for improved temperature control in the critical care unit, it is expected that therapeutic hypothermia will become more widely used in the management of anoxic neurological injury whatever the presenting cardiac rhythm.
Authors:
Stephen Bernard
Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article; Review    
Journal Detail:
Title:  Critical care medicine     Volume:  37     ISSN:  1530-0293     ISO Abbreviation:  Crit. Care Med.     Publication Date:  2009 Jul 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2009-06-18     Completed Date:  2009-07-15     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  0355501     Medline TA:  Crit Care Med     Country:  United States    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  S227-33     Citation Subset:  AIM; IM    
Affiliation:
Intensive Care Unit, The Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. stephen.bernard@alfred.org.au
Export Citation:
APA/MLA Format     Download EndNote     Download BibTex
MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Adult
Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation / methods
Child
Critical Care / methods*,  trends
Evidence-Based Medicine
Feasibility Studies
Forecasting
Heart Arrest / complications,  etiology*,  mortality,  therapy*
Humans
Hypothermia, Induced / adverse effects,  methods*,  trends
Hypoxia, Brain / etiology
Multicenter Studies as Topic
Patient Selection
Practice Guidelines as Topic
Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
Research Design
Safety
Shock, Cardiogenic / etiology
Survival Rate
Time Factors
Treatment Outcome
Ventricular Fibrillation / complications

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


Previous Document:  Therapeutic hypothermia after cardiac arrest in clinical practice: review and compilation of recent ...
Next Document:  Therapeutic hypothermia for acute myocardial infarction: past, present, and future.