The Medical journal of Australia
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Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA), with its high fatality rate, is a significant public health issue. The aetiology of OHCA is reviewed, and management strategies are discussed, including the "chain of survival", the Utstein method of data collection, and recent developments in advanced cardiac life support emphasising defibrillation.
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To review the evidence that recording a prehospital 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) reduces time from hospital arrival to initiation of reperfusion therapy for acute myocardial infarction (AMI). ⋯ Little evidence is available to support routine prehospital 12-lead ECG recording if the median hospital time to reperfusion is already less than 30 minutes. Improvement of in-hospital treatment times may be a better initial strategy than prehospital 12-lead ECG recording, as this will benefit more patients and allow ambulance services to better allocate their available resources.
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To describe point prevalence of HCV antibody and relevant risk behaviour among people who inject drugs and who attended selected needle and syringe programs throughout Australia in 1995, 1996 and 1997. ⋯ Despite an apparent decline in HCV prevalence, carriage rates of HCV antibody remain high.
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Comment Letter Case Reports
Organophosphate poisoning versus brainstem stroke.