title: Cardiopulmonary resuscitation and the patient with cancer.
abstract: The records of 114 cancer patients suffering cardiopulmonary arrests (CPA) during a 3-year period at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) were retrospectively reviewed to identify variables predicting final outcome in these patients. Although 65.7% of the patients were successfully resuscitated, only 12 (10.5%) were discharged alive from the hospital. Median survival after discharge was 150 days. By univariate and multivariate analysis, the only variable predicting the likelihood of a patient's being discharged alive after a CPA was the performance status of the patient at the time of admission to the hospital. Thus, a patient spending more than 50% of the time in bed at the time of admission had only a 2.3% chance of being discharged alive after CPA. A thorough discussion of these findings between physicians and patients and their families is strongly recommended at the time of admission to spare cancer patients unnecessary invasive resuscitative procedures.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10021.
authors.forename: C E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Vitelli
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Cooper
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rogatko
authors.forename: M F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Brennan
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006323:Heart Arrest / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000401:mortality; D011379:Prognosis; D012151:Resuscitation; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate