title: Cardiopulmonary resuscitation in paediatric intensive care patients.
abstract: To identify the success of cardiopulmonary resuscitation in the paediatric ICU patient we undertook a retrospective study in an 11-bed medical and a 14-bed surgical paediatric ICU over a 32-month period. Thirty-four patients suffered an arrest in the ICU. Only 4 patients could be resuscitated successfully; 1 died after 24 h. Of the 3 long-term survivors 1 suffered from severe neurologic sequelae. All patients were in CCS classes III or IV. All but 3 patients had PSI scores greater than 8. The decision to resuscitate or to withhold therapy in individual patients who are deteriorating in the course of a critical, preceding illness should not be based on the risk index of these scoring systems. Both medical and ethical considerations should be guidelines in the process of decision-making.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatric Surgery, Erasmus University Medical School, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: A P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Bos
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Polman
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: van der Voort
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tibboel
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D016887:Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016638:Critical Illness / Q000145:classification / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D015278:Intensive Care Units, Pediatric; D008297:Male; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D015996:Survival Rate; D016896:Treatment Outcome