The American journal of emergency medicine
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There have been no studies of the nature of defibrillatory shocks or risks to persons, providing them other than one individual case report and a number of incidental accounts. In this study, the severity and nature of injuries to prehospital emergency personnel in King County, Washington are reported. In addition, the types of injuries occurring to defibrillator operators throughout the United States, as voluntarily reported to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), are described. ⋯ The rate of injury for paramedics was 1 per 1,700 defibrillatory shocks, and the rate of injury for emergency medical technician-defibrillator personnel was 1 per 1,000 defibrillatory shocks. These rates probably overestimate the real risk. Emphasis on safety and incorporation of safety procedures into resuscitation protocols can make the rate of injury even lower.
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It is still a common practice to continue unsuccessful field resuscitations in the emergency department (ED) even after prolonged estimated down times. The authors studied patients who arrested in the field and did not regain a pulse before their arrival in the ED to determine if any ever leave the hospital neurologically intact. All cardiac arrests in the urban St Louis area that were brought to our facility over a 2 1/2-year period by advanced life support units (excluding all patients with hypothermia, drug overdose, near drowning, and traumatic cardiac arrest) were reviewed. ⋯ Eighteen of these patients were admitted but only one was discharged neurologically intact. The only survivor in the group without a pulse arrested while en route to the ED. It is concluded that cardiac arrest victims who arrive in the ED without a pulse on arrival or en route have almost no chance of functional recovery.
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Clinical and autopsy records were retrospectively reviewed for 105 patients between the ages of 1 and 39 years who came in to the emergency department with nontraumatic cardiac arrest. There were 65 male (62%) and 40 female patients (38%). Forty-eight percent of the patients were resuscitated. ⋯ Witnessed arrest and an etiology of primary cardiac dysrhythmia for arrest were statistically significant factors related to favorable outcome. Asystole as the initial cardiac rhythm was a negative prognostic indicator. Age, sex, race, bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and paramedic response time were not significant prognostic factors for long-term survival.
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The records of 314 patients who suffered blunt chest trauma and underwent thoracic aortography between 1968 and 1986 were retrospectively reviewed. The patients ranged in age from 7 to 84 years (mean, 37.7 years). There were 255 male and 59 female patients. ⋯ Aberrant origin of the arch vessels occurred in 0.96% of patients, and ductus diverticulum occurred in 0.64%. There were two false-positive and no false-negative aortograms. It was concluded that thoracic aortography after trauma is accurate and safe.