Isr Med Assoc J
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Although 40 years have passed since the advent of advanced cardiac life support, out-of-hospital cardiac arrest still carries an ultimate failure rate of 95%. This review reinforces the importance of public education, optimization of the local chain of survival, early bystander access and bystander basic life support, and early defibrillation. ⋯ The impact of automatic external defibrillators and new medications incorporated into ACLS algorithms is evaluated in the light of contemporary research. The persistent, discouraging, low functional survival rate (less than 5% of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest victims) mandates reassessment of current strategies and guidelines.