Resuscitation
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Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is a leading cause of pre-hospital mortality. Chest compressions performed during cardiopulmonary resuscitation aim to provide adequate perfusion to the vital organs during cardiac arrest. Poor resuscitation technique and the quality of pre-hospital CPR influences outcome from OHCA. Transthoracic impedance (TTI) measurement is a useful tool in the assessment of the quality of pre-hospital resuscitation by ambulance crews but TTI telemetry has not yet been performed in the United Kingdom. We describe a pilot study to implement a data network to collect defibrillator TTI data via telemetry from ambulances. ⋯ Trans-thoracic impedance analysis is an effective means of recording important measures of resuscitation quality including the hands-on-the-chest time, compression rate and defibrillation interval time. TTI data transmission via telemetry is straightforward, efficient and allows resuscitation data to be captured and analysed from a large geographical area. Further research is warranted on the impact of post-resuscitation reporting on the quality of resuscitation delivered by ambulance crews.
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It is unclear what effect therapeutic hypothermia may have on renal function, because its effect has so far been primarily evaluated in settings in which there may be possible confounding perturbations in cardiovascular and renal physiology, such deep intraoperative hypothermia, general anesthesia, and post-cardiac arrest. We sought to determine if therapeutic hypothermia affects renal function in awake patients with normal renal function who were enrolled into a clinical trial of hypothermia plus intravenous thrombolysis for acute ischemic stroke. ⋯ Inducing hypothermia in patients with relatively unperturbed renal physiology results in a decrease in urine output that is linearly correlated with the decrease in core temperature. This has important implications for fluid management in patients undergoing therapeutic hypothermia.