title: Outcome of cardiopulmonary resuscitation following open heart surgery.
abstract: The outcome of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) following cardiac surgery is not known to date. A retrospective analysis of all patients subjected to CPR during their hospital stay following heart surgery was conducted; 1.4% of patients required CPR 0.5-192 h following surgery. The mean duration of CPR was 42 +/- 29 min. Twenty-nine patients were subjected to emergency rethoractomy and 14 patients received coronary artery bypass grafting. The hospital mortality was 46%. There was a significant correlation of duration of CPR and death (r = 0.44, p = 0.004). The commonest cause of death was consecutive multiorgan failure in 12 patients. Twenty-one patients were long-term survivors without neurological sequelae. Twenty patients were in NYHA class I or II. Ventricular fibrillation and myocardial ischaemia are the commonest conditions leading to CPR in an average population of patients immediately after cardiac surgery. Aggressive treatment and emergency rethoracotomy in most cases results in long-term survival in 50%.
authors.affiliation: Clinic of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of Regensburg, Germany.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wahba
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Götz
authors.forename: D E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Birnbaum
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002315:Cardiopulmonary Bypass / Q000009:adverse effects*; D016887:Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation / Q000401:mortality / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D006323:Heart Arrest / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome