title: Management of cardiac arrest patients to maximize neurologic outcome.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Each year, hundreds of thousands of people will be resuscitated after a cardiac arrest. A significant portion of these patients will lapse into a disease state which is the product of modern emergency and critical care medicine: the postcardiac arrest syndrome. The ability to return a patient to his or her prior state of health after cardiac arrest, once completely beyond the capacities of clinicians, is now one of the most important areas of medical science. Much of this ability depends on preserving the nervous system from a complicated sequence of secondary injuries, which ensue from global ischemia.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The International Liaison Committee On Resuscitation has recently given new direction to the care of patients after cardiac arrest by addressing the variety of medical problems encountered after resuscitation as a single postcardiac arrest syndrome. This paradigm centers on supportive care to optimize neurological outcomes and especially focuses on therapeutic hypothermia.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study reviews the latest advances in treating patients after cardiac arrest in the emergency department and critical care unit environments.
authors: Neurosciences Critical Care Division, Johns Hopkins Hospital and Department of Emergency Medicine, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA. hputtge1@jhmi.edu
authors: Hans Adrian
authors: HA
authors: Püttgen
authors: Hardin
authors: H
authors: Pantle
authors: Romergryko G
authors: RG
authors: Geocadin
mesh_terms: D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D016887:Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D006323:Heart Arrest / Q000150:complications / Q000534:rehabilitation / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D018696:Neuroprotective Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011379:Prognosis; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D018696:Neuroprotective Agents