%0 Journal Article
%T Initial Cardiac Rhythm Correlated to Emergency Department Survival
%A Rade B. Vukmir
%J Clinical Medicine : Cardiology
%D 2009
%I 
%X Background: This study attempted to correlate the initial cardiac rhythm and survival from prehospital cardiac arrest, as a secondary end-point.Methods: Prospective, randomized, double-blinded clinical intervention trial where bicarbonate was administered to 874 prehospital cardiopulmonary arrest patients in prehospital urban, suburban, and rural emergency medical service environments.Results: This group¡¯s manifested an overall survival rate of 13.9% (110 of 793) of prehospital cardiac arrest patients. The most common presenting arrhythmia was ventricular fibrillation (VF) (45.0%), asystole (ASY) (34.4%), and pulseless electrical activity (PEA) (15.7%). Less commonly found were normal sinus rhythm (NSR) (1.8%), other (1.8%), ventricular tachycardia (VT) (0.6%), and atrioventricular block (AVB) (0.5%) as prearrest rhythms.The best survival was noted in those with a presenting rhythm of AVB (57.1%), VT (33.3%), VF (15.7%), NSR (14.3%), PEA (11.2%), and ASY (11.1%) (p = 0.02). However, there was no correlation between the final cardiac rhythm and outcome, other than an obvious end-of-life rhythm.Conclusion: The most common presenting arrhythmia was VF (45%), while survival is greatest in those presenting with AVB (57.1%).
%K cardiac rhythm
%K cardiac arrest
%K prehospital
%K emergency
%K arrhythmia
%U http://www.la-press.com/initial-cardiac-rhythm-correlated-to-emergency-department-survival-a1314