Unassisted Return of Spontaneous Circulation Following Withdrawal of Life-Sustaining Therapy During Donation After Circulatory Determination of Death in a Child

CONCLUSIONS: We provide the first report of unassisted return of spontaneous circulation following withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment in a child. In our case, return of spontaneous circulation occurred in the setting of controlled donation after circulatory determination of death and was accompanied by return of respiration. Return of spontaneous circulation greater than 2 minutes following circulatory arrest in our patient indicates that 2 minutes of observation is insufficient to ensure that cessation of circulation is permanent after withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment in a child.
Source: Critical Care Medicine - Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Online Case Report Source Type: research