Developments in transcutaneous and transthoracic pacing during bradyasystolic arrest

✍ Scribed by Jerris R Hedges; Scott A Syverud; William C Dalsey

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1984
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 615 KB
• Volume: 13
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1097-6760
• DOI: 10.1016/s0196-0644(84)80450-3

✦ Synopsis

nessed arrests presented with a rhythm of asystole and were refractory to epinephrine, bicarbonate, and atropine. All patients were intubated and had an intravenous line started. The rate of successful resuscitation in the calcium group was one of 18 (5.6%), while none in the saline group was resuscitated successfully (P = .37). A successful resuscitation was defined as conveyance of a patient with a rhythm and pulse to an emergency department. Groups were analyzed for sex, age, cardiac historg, and cardiac drugs, with no statistically significant differences; No patient who was successfixlly resuscitated in the field was discharged alive from the hospital.

Conclusions

The literature supporting the use of calcium chloride for asystole has been reviewed and found to be largely anecdotal. Two large retrospective studies have not supported the use of calcium chloride for asystole, and our prospective, randomized, double-blind comparison study failed to substantiate the effectiveness of calcium chloride for asystole. Thus the use of calcium chloride in prehospital cardiac arrest in currently recommended dosages for refractory asystole is not supported, and probably should be deleted from the American Heart Association's advanced cardiac life support guidelines.