• R A Berg, K B Kern, C W Otto, R A Samson, A B Sanders, and G A Ewy.
• Department of Pediatrics, University of Arizona College of Medicine, Tucson 85724-5073, USA.
• Resuscitation. 1996 Dec 1;33(2):147-53.

Study ObjectiveTo determine cardiac rhythms in a swine model of acute pediatric asphyxial cardiac arrest.DesignProspective electrocardiographic evaluation of 36 piglets.SettingUniversity hospital laboratory.InterventionPiglets were acutely asphyxiated by endotracheal tube clamping until 10 min after loss of aortic pulsations. Resuscitative efforts were then provided.ResultsNone of the animals had ventricular fibrillation (VF) when loss of aortic pulsations occurred (11 +/- 2 min after clamping). Fourteen of the 36 piglets exhibited VF during the asphyxial insult. VF converted to asystole in four piglets prior to resuscitation. Immediately prior to resuscitation, VF occurred in 10 piglets, asystole in 19 piglets, and bradyarrhythmias in seven piglets.ConclusionVF occurs frequently in this piglet model of prolonged asphyxial cardiac arrest, consistent with recent observations in pediatric prehospital cardiac arrests. VF occurred late in the asphyxial process.

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