What is this?

This Korean study investigated 6,620 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA) witnessed by emergency medical providers, covering a four year period of the Korean OHCA registry. They looked at outcome among those receiving advanced airway intervention, comparing arrest at scene to arrest in the ambulance.

Why is this interesting?

Past studies have suggested better OHCA outcomes when a supraglottic airway (SGA) is used rather than endotrachial intubation (ETI). We also know that repeated advanced airway attempts are detrimental, and that airway intervention can interrupt CPR.

What was not known is:

1. Whether SGA placement is detrimental or beneficial, compared with basic airway support, and;
2. Whether there is any difference if the arrest occurs at the scene or in the confines of an ambulance.

And they found:

There was no benefit from advanced airway intervention (SGA or ETI) for EMS witnessed out-of-hospital arrest – and in fact there was an associated worse neurological outcome for in-ambulance OHCA when the airway was instrumented compared to any other group.

Don’t be hasty...

Although the authors reasonably describe the ways in which providing advanced airway interventions in the confines of an ambulance may impede other resuscitation, thus worsening outcomes, it may also be that a patient who still arrests despite receiving EMS care in the back of an ambulance is by definition at risk of worse outcomes despite medical care.

Nevertheless, at worst this retrospective observational study suggests there is no benefit of advanced airways in OHCA.

Bonus...

The authors also provide an interesting overview of the Korean emergency medical system, servicing 50 million people in urban and rural areas. This is an enlightening insight into how one country has structured its EMS service.

summary

• Jeong Ho Park, Kyoung Jun Song, Sang Do Shin, Young Sun Ro, Ki Jeong Hong, and So Yeon Kong.
• Emergency Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine and Hospital, Seoul, The Republic of Korea.
• Emerg Med J. 2019 Sep 1; 36 (9): 541-547.

ObjectivesTo investigate the association of prehospital advanced airway management (AAM) on outcomes of emergency medical service (EMS)-witnessed out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) according to the location of arrest.MethodsWe evaluated a Korean national OHCA database from 2012 to 2016. Adults with EMS-witnessed, non-traumatic OHCA were included. Patients were categorised into four groups according to whether prehospital AAM was conducted (yes/no) and location of arrest ('at scene' or 'in the ambulance'). The primary outcome was discharge with good neurological recovery (cerebral performance category 1 or 2). Multivariable logistic regression analysis was conducted to evaluate the association between AAM and outcome according to the location of arrest.ResultsAmong 6620 cases, 1425 (21.5%) cases of arrest occurred 'at the scene', and 5195 (78.5%) cases of arrest occurred 'in an ambulance'. Prehospital AAM was performed in 272 (19.1%) OHCAs occurring 'at the scene' and 645 (12.4%) OHCAs occurring 'in an ambulance'. Patients with OHCA in the ambulance who had prehospital AAM showed the lowest good neurological recovery rate (6.0%) compared with OHCAs in the ambulance with no AAM (8.9%), OHCA at scene with AAM (10.7%) and OHCA at scene with no AAM (7.7%). For OHCAs occurring in the ambulance, the use of AAM had an adjusted OR of 0.67 (95% CI 0.45 to 0.98) for good neurological recovery.ConclusionOur data show no benefit of AAM in patients with EMS-witnessed OHCA. For patients with OHCA occurring in the ambulance, AAM was associated with worse clinical outcome.© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2019. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.

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