TREATMENT OF COMATOSE SURVIVORS OF OUT-OF-HOSPITAL CARDIAC ARREST WITH INDUCED HYPOTHERMIA

TREATMENT OF COMATOSE SURVIVORS OF OUT-OF-HOSPITAL CARDIAC ARREST WITH INDUCED HYPOTHERMIA
SA Bernard, TW Gray, MD Buist, BM Jones, W Silvester, G Gutteridge, K Smith
The New England Journal of Medicine, 2002

The effects of moderate hypothermia and normothermia in patients who remained unconscious after resuscitation from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest were examined. Seventy-seven patients were randomly assigned to treatment with hypothermia or normothermia. Of the patients treated with hypothermia, 49% had a good outcome where they were discharged home or to a rehabilitation facility while only 26% of normothermia patients had a successful outcome. Hypothermia was associated with a lower cardiac index, higher systemic vascular resistance, and hyperglycemia