Resuscitation
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diagnosis of precipitating myocardial infarction is essential for management of victims of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, since investigations and treatment are determined by the underlying cause. Skeletal muscle and myocardial damage from external cardiac massage and defibrillation may complicate biochemical diagnosis of myocardial infarction. ⋯ skeletal muscle and myocardial damage occurs in survivors of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and is related to the duration of resuscitation. This complicates biochemical diagnosis of underlying myocardial infarction. Specific high diagnostic threshold values for MB-CK and troponin T are needed to optimise diagnostic accuracy. The use of MB-CK fraction leads to greater diagnostic error because of the variability of muscle CK release after resuscitation.
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At present there are about 1 million trained cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) rescuers in Sweden. CPR out-of-hospital is initiated about 2000 times a year in Sweden. However, very little is known about the bystanders' experiences and reactions. ⋯ Ninety-two percent of the bystanders had no hesitation because of fear of contracting the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) virus. Ninety-three percent of the rescuers regarded their intervention as a mainly positive experience. Of 425 interviewed rescuers, 99.5% were prepared to start CPR again.
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On the average, 10-15% of patients who undergo cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) following a cardiopulmonary arrest in the hospital environment will survive to be discharged. The purpose of this study was to determine objective factors influencing patient outcome after CPR to determine who should be resuscitated and when to end CPR efforts. The records of 266 patients who underwent in-hospital CPR over a 3-year period were retrospectively analyzed with regard to age, gender, co-morbid conditions, setting of arrest, duration of resuscitation, initial pH and PO2 during resuscitation, and outcome of resuscitative efforts. ⋯ There was no significant difference in survival based on location of arrest. Factors associated with a poor prognosis included age greater than 60, co-morbid disease (i.e. pneumonia, sepsis, renal failure, heart disease, etc.), an initial PO2 < 50 mmHg and CPR efforts extending beyond 10 min. Based on this data, guidelines regarding initiation and termination of CPR should be instituted in light of poor outcome in patients over 60 years of age with co-morbid conditions, specifically after 10 min of CPR.
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To provide researchers with a description of the method of dealing with out-of-hospital cardiac arrests, and the results thereof, using the Utstein style. ⋯ of the 234 (61%) patients in whom resuscitation was attempted, 41 (17%) were hospitalised and 12 (5%) discharged were still alive at 1 year follow-up. Of the patients who showed signs of cardiac arrest of cardiac aetiology, classified as having initial ventricular fibrillation (VF) rhythms: 62% of the cases (5/8) were alive at 1 year if the cardiac arrest occurred in the presence of emergency medical personnel; 6% of the cases (2/31) were alive at 1 year if the cardiac arrest occurred in the presence of non-specialised bystanders.