Critical care medicine
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Critical care medicine · Dec 1996
Effects of buffer agents on postresuscitation myocardial dysfunction.
Earlier studies demonstrated that hypertonic buffer agents administered during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) altered neither myocardial pH nor cardiac resuscitability. The rationale for the routine use of buffer agents for CPR has therefore been challenged. However, when these buffer agents are administered during CPR, they may have favorable effects on the postresuscitation course. Postresuscitation myocardial dysfunction has more recently emerged as a potentially fatal complication after successful cardiac resuscitation. Options for prevention and management of this complication have prompted the present studies, in which the effects of buffer agents administered during CPR are evaluated as to their effects on postresuscitation myocardial function and survival. ⋯ Although buffer agents may not improve the success of resuscitation when administered during CPR, they may ameliorate postresuscitation myocardial dysfunction and thereby improve postresuscitation survival.