Emergency room resuscitation of patients with cardiac arrest outside hospital. Outcome and immediate prognosis in 319 patients.
Resuscitation was attempted in 319 patients brought to hospital with cardiac arrest during a 5-year period. Primary successful results were achieved in 50 patients (15.7%). Twelve patients were long-term survivors (3.4%), 10 of whom had normal brain function, whereas 2 had mild cerebral dysfunction. To improve prognostication in patients with initially successful resuscitation, Bayes' theorem was applied using 4 clinical findings after 24 hours' treatment: reactions to painful stimuli, pupillary size, light reactions and BP, Bayes' theorem as well as coma depth after 24 hours gave valuable information regarding individual prognosis.
D000368:Aged; D003657:Decision Making; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005260:Female; D006323:Heart Arrest / Q000401:mortality*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008954:Models, Biological; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care; D011379:Prognosis; D012151:Resuscitation; D013548:Sweden; D013997:Time Factors