• A P Bos, A Polman, E van der Voort, and D Tibboel.
• Department of Paediatric Surgery, Erasmus University Medical School, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
• Intensive Care Med. 1992 Jan 1;18(2):109-11.

AbstractTo identify the success of cardiopulmonary resuscitation in the paediatric ICU patient we undertook a retrospective study in an 11-bed medical and a 14-bed surgical paediatric ICU over a 32-month period. Thirty-four patients suffered an arrest in the ICU. Only 4 patients could be resuscitated successfully; 1 died after 24 h. Of the 3 long-term survivors 1 suffered from severe neurologic sequelae. All patients were in CCS classes III or IV. All but 3 patients had PSI scores greater than 8. The decision to resuscitate or to withhold therapy in individual patients who are deteriorating in the course of a critical, preceding illness should not be based on the risk index of these scoring systems. Both medical and ethical considerations should be guidelines in the process of decision-making.

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