Resuscitation
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Comparative Study
Quantitative waveform measures of the electrocardiogram as continuous physiologic feedback during resuscitation with cardiopulmonary bypass.
There are few if any real-time physiologic measures that currently provide feedback during resuscitation from cardiac arrest. Such measures could be used to guide therapy not simply based on process guidelines but on the physiologic response of the patient from moment to moment. To this end, we applied an existing technology - quantitative waveform measures (QWMs) of the ventricular fibrillation (VF) electrocardiogram (ECG) - as a continuous measure of myocardial response to reperfusion with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) after prolonged cardiac arrest. ⋯ QWMs of the VF ECG provided a real-time metric of myocardial electrophysiologic response to reperfusion with CPB. Resuscitation from greater than 20min of untreated cardiac arrest was unlikely. QWMs may be useful for titrating CPB duration before defibrillation and assessing CPR quality independently of process guidelines.