Epinephrine in Cardiac Arrest: Identifying a Potential Limit for Resuscitation

Introduction: Epinephrine continues to be a fundamental part of the Advanced Cardiac Life Support algorithm despite a lack of evidence that it improves neurologically intact survival. Our aim was both to identify a potential upper limit of epinephrine use in resuscitations and to demonstrate real-world epinephrine use in different patient subgroups.Methods: This was a single-center, retrospective cohort study, conducted between August 1, 2016 –July 1, 2021, of patients with medical cardiac arrest who were administered a known number of epinephrine doses. The primary outcome was neurologically intact discharge defined by a modified Rankin scale ≤3, with secondary outcomes of comparing epinephrine doses by age, rhythm, and emergency medical services vs emergency department administration of epinephrine.Results:The study included 1,330 patients, with 184 patients (13.8%) surviving to neurologically intact discharge....
Source: Western Journal of Emergency Medicine - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Source Type: research