Minnesota Resuscitation Consortium Advanced Perfusion & Reperfusion Cardiac Life Support Strategy for Out-of-Hospital Refractory V Fib

Approximately 400,000 people in the United States suffer out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) each year. One-third present to EMS with a shockable rhythm (v fib/v tach). Of these patients with an initial shockable rhythm, 50% are refractory to treatment resulting in prolonged duration of resuscitation and poor outcomes.1,2 The Minnesota Resuscitation Consortium (MRC) initiated the Advanced Perfusion and Reperfusion Cardiac Life Support Strategy for Out-of-Hospital Refractory Ventricular Fibrillation (v fib) in December 2015, in an effort to improve survival outcomes for patients suffering refractory v fib arrest. Extracorporeal life support (ECLS) provides two critical advantages to the care of patients with refractory cardiac arrest. First, it provides near complete replacement of cardiac function with flows of 4–5 L/min. Second, the hemodynamic stability it provides enables the underlying causes of arrest to be addressed. Importantly, the primary etiology of refractory v fib is coronary artery disease, with 84% of refractory v fib patients presenting with severe coronary lesions. Further, these coronary lesions are highly complex with high syntax scores and a high rate of chronic total occlusions.3,4 Three Key Components The MRC ECPR program has three key components: prehospital, stabilization and recovery. First, the prehospital care is highly coordinated and the paramedics involved have been highly trained to provide rapid assessment on scene and rapid transport, in th...
Source: JEMS Patient Care - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Tags: Cardiac & Resuscitation Top Story Exclusive Articles Patient Care Heart of America Source Type: news