A 67-year-old man presented to the emergency department with symptoms of acute myocardial infarction. Electrocardiogram showed ST segment elevations in leads II, III, and AVF. While waiting for cardiac catheterization, he developed prolonged ventricular fibrillation lasting for 69 minutes, throughout which he was resuscitated as per the 2010 Advanced Cardiac Life Support protocol. The patient was transferred to the catheterization lab while undergoing active resuscitation, where a stent was placed in his right coronary artery. He was neurologically intact postcatheterization and discharged home on the sixth day of admission.
BeharSGoldbourtUReicher-ReissHKaplinskyE. Prognosis of acute myocardial infarction complicated by primary ventricular fibrillation. The Principal Investigators of the SPRINT Study. Am J Cardiol. 1990;66:1208-1211.
2.
NewbyKHThompsonTStebbinsATopolEJCaliffRMNataleA. Sustained ventricular arrhythmias in patients receiving thrombolytic therapy: incidence and outcomes. The GUSTO Investigators. Circulation. 1998;98:2567-2573.
3.
JacobsINadkarniVBahrJ. Cardiac arrest and cardiopulmonary resuscitation outcome reports: update and simplification of the Utstein templates for resuscitation registries: a statement for healthcare professionals from a task force of the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (American Heart Association, European Resuscitation Council, Australian Resuscitation Council, New Zealand Resuscitation Council, Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, InterAmerican Heart Foundation, Resuscitation Councils of Southern Africa). Circulation. 2004;110:3385-3397.
4.
ChiotaNAFreemanDWBarrettKM. Hypoxic-ischemic brain injury and prognosis after cardiac arrest. Continuum (Minneap Minn). 2011;17(5 Neurologic Consultation in the Hospital):1094-1118.
5.
ZipesDPCammAJBorggrefeM. ACC/AHA/ESC 2006 guidelines for management of patients with ventricular arrhythmias and the prevention of sudden cardiac death: a report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force and the European Society of Cardiology Committee for Practice Guidelines (Writing Committee to Develop Guidelines for Management of Patients With Ventricular Arrhythmias and the Prevention of Sudden Cardiac Death). J Am Coll Cardiol. 2006;48:e247-e346.
6.
FieldJMHazinskiMFSayreMR. Part 1: executive summary: 2010 American Heart Association Guidelines for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care. Circulation. 2010;122(suppl 3):S640-S656.
7.
ReaTDHelbockMPerryS. Increasing use of cardiopulmonary resuscitation during out-of-hospital ventricular fibrillation arrest: survival implications of guideline changes. Circulation. 2006;114:2760-2765.
8.
SchoenenbergerRAvon PlantaMvon PlantaI. Survival after failed out-of-hospital resuscitation. Are further therapeutic efforts in the emergency department futile?Arch Intern Med. 1994;154:2433-2437.
9.
GarotPLefevreTEltchaninoffH. Six-month outcome of emergency percutaneous coronary intervention in resuscitated patients after cardiac arrest complicating ST-elevation myocardial infarction. Circulation. 2007;115:1354-1362.
10.
EwyGAKernKB. Recent advances in cardiopulmonary resuscitation: cardiocerebral resuscitation. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2009;53:149-157.
11.
Hypothermia after Cardiac Arrest Study Group. Mild hypothermia to improve the neurologic outcome after cardiac arrest. N Engl J Med. 2002;346:549-556.
12.
BernardSAGrayTWBuistMD. Treatment of comatose survivors of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest with induced hypothermia. N Engl J Med. 2002;346:557-563.
13.
ReaTDEisenbergMSBeckerLJMurrayJAHearneT. Temporal trends in sudden cardiac arrest: a 25-year emergency medical services perspective. Circulation. 2003;107:2780-2785.
14.
SaklayenMLissHMarkertR. In-hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation-survival in one hospital and literature review. Medicine (Baltimore). 1995;74:163-175.
15.
OddoMRibordyVFeihlF. Early predictors of outcome in comatose survivors of ventricular fibrillation and non-ventricular fibrillation cardiac arrest treated with hypothermia: a prospective study. Crit Care Med. 2008;36:2296-2301.
16.
GueugniaudPYMolsPGoldsteinP. A comparison of repeated high doses and repeated standard doses of epinephrine for cardiac arrest outside the hospital. European Epinephrine Study Group. N Engl J Med. 1998;339:1595-1601.
17.
CallahamMMadsenCDBartonCWSaundersCEPointerJ. A randomized clinical trial of high-dose epinephrine and norepinephrine vs standard-dose epinephrine in prehospital cardiac arrest. JAMA. 1992;268:2667-2672.
18.
BehringerWKittlerHSterzF. Cumulative epinephrine dose during cardiopulmonary resuscitation and neurologic outcome. Ann Intern Med. 1998;129:450-456.
19.
HolmbergMHolmbergSHerlitzJ. Low chance of survival among patients requiring adrenaline (epinephrine) or intubation after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in Sweden. Resuscitation. 2002;54:37-45.
20.
HerlitzJEkströmLWennerblomBAxelssonABångAHolmbergS. Adrenaline in out-of-hospital ventricular fibrillation. Does it make any difference?Resuscitation. 1995;29:195-201.
21.
HagiharaAHasegawaMAbeTNagataTWakataYMiyazakiS. Prehospital epinephrine use and survival among patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. JAMA. 2012;307:1161-1168.
22.
HayashiYIwamiTKitamuraT. Impact of early intravenous epinephrine administration on outcomes following out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Circ J. 2012;76:1639-1645.
23.
JørgensenEO. Course of neurological recovery and cerebral prognostic signs during cardio-pulmonary resuscitation. Resuscitation. 1997;35:9-16.
24.
SchneiderAPNelsonDJBrownDD. In-hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation: a 30-year review. J Am Board Fam Pract. 1993;6:91-101.
25.
TovarEADel CampoCLandaDWBorsariA. Successfull myocardial revascularization and neurologic recovery in a patient with prolonged refractory cardiac arrest and a chronically occlused left internal carotid artery. Tex Heart Inst J. 1995;22:271-273.
26.
BelessJDOtsukiJADavisWE. Neurologically intact survivor of prolonged ventricular fibrillation: a case for intermediate dose epinephrine and post-resuscitation infusion. Am J Emerg Med. 1992;10:133-135.
