Postcardiac Arrest Management

Emerg Med Clin North Am. 2015 Aug;33(3):691-712. doi: 10.1016/j.emc.2015.04.011. Epub 2015 Jun 10.

Abstract

Cardiac arrest afflicts more than 300,000 persons annually in North America alone. Advances in systematic, regimented postresuscitation care have lowered mortality and improved neurologic outcomes in select cohorts of patients over the last decade. Postcardiac arrest care now comprises its own link in the chain of survival. For most patients, high-quality postcardiac arrest care begins in the Emergency Department. This article reviews the evidence and offers treatment strategies for the key components of postcardiac arrest care.

Keywords: Critical care; Heart arrest; Hypothermia; Prognostication; Resuscitation.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Airway Management / methods
  • Brain Injuries / etiology
  • Brain Injuries / prevention & control
  • Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation / methods*
  • Disease Management
  • Emergency Service, Hospital
  • Heart Arrest / therapy*
  • Humans
  • Hypothermia / etiology
  • Hypothermia / therapy
  • Hypothermia, Induced
  • Multiple Organ Failure / etiology
  • Multiple Organ Failure / prevention & control
  • Reperfusion Injury / therapy
  • Time Factors