• Jerry P Nolan, Robert W Neumar, Christophe Adrie, Mayuki Aibiki, Robert A Berg, Bernd W Bbttiger, Clifton Callaway, Robert S B Clark, Romergryko G Geocadin, Edward C Jauch, Karl B Kern, Ivan Laurent, W T Longstreth, Raina M Merchant, Peter Morley, Laurie J Morrison, Vinay Nadkarni, Mary Ann Peberdy, Emanuel P Rivers, Antonio Rodriguez-Nunez, Frank W Sellke, Christian Spaulding, Kjetil Sunde, and Terry Vanden Hoek.
• Consultant in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine, Royal United Hospital, Bath, United Kingdom. jerry.nolan@ukgateway.net
• Int Emerg Nurs. 2009 Oct 1;17(4):203-25.

Aim Of The ReviewTo review the epidemiology, pathophysiology, treatment and prognostication in relation to the post-cardiac arrest syndrome.MethodsRelevant articles were identified using PubMed, EMBASE and an American Heart Association EndNote master resuscitation reference library, supplemented by hand searches of key papers. Writing groups comprising international experts were assigned to each section. Drafts of the document were circulated to all authors for comment and amendment.ResultsThe 4 key components of post-cardiac arrest syndrome were identified as (1) post-cardiac arrest brain injury, (2) post-cardiac arrest myocardial dysfunction, (3) systemic ischaemia/reperfusion response, and (4) persistent precipitating pathology.ConclusionsA growing body of knowledge suggests that the individual components of the postcardiac arrest syndrome are potentially treatable.

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