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Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation in an Average Brazilian Intensive Care Unit: Should We Perform Less or Better?

Abstract

Introduction:

Few data can be found about cardiac arrest in the intensive care unit outside reference centers in third world countries.

Objective:

To study epidemiology and prognostic factors associated with cardiac arrest in the intensive care unit (ICU) in an average Brazilian center.

Methods:

Between June 2011 and July 2014, 302 cases of cardiac arrest in the intensive care unit were prospectively evaluated in 273 patients (age: 68.9 ± 15 years) admitted in three mixed units. Data regarding cardiac arrest and cardiopulmonary resuscitation were collected in an "Utstein style" form and epidemiologic data was prospectively obtained. Factors associated with do not resuscitate orders, return of spontaneous circulation and survival were studied using binary logistic regression. Statistical package software used was SPSS 19.0 (IBM Inc., USA).

Results:

Among 302 cardiac arrests, 230 (76.3%) had their initial rhythm recorded and 141 (61.3%) was in asystole, 62 (27%) in pulseless electric activity (PEA) and 27 had a shockable rhythm (11.7%). In 109 (36.1%) cases, cardiac arrest had a suspected reversible cause. Most frequent suspected cardiac arrest causes were hypotension (n=98; 32.5%), multiple (19.2%) and hypoxemia (17.5%). Sixty (19.9%) cardiac arrests had do not resuscitate orders. Prior left ventricle dysfunction was the only predictor of do not resuscitate order (OR: 3.1 [CI=1.03-9.4]; P=0.04). Among patients that received cardiopulmonary resuscitation, 59 (24.4%) achieved return of spontaneous circulation and 12 survived to discharge (5.6%). Initial shockable rhythm was the only return of spontaneous circulation predictor (OR: 24.9 (2.4-257); P=0.007) and survival (OR: 4.6 (1.4-15); P=0.01).

Conclusion:

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation rate was high considering ICU patients, so was mortality. Prior left ventricular dysfunction was a predictor of do not resuscitate order. Initial shockable rhythm was a predictor of return of spontaneous circulation and survival.

Keywords:
Hypothermia; Heart Arrest, Induced Shock

Abbreviations, acronyms & symbols CA = Cardiac arrest CPR = Cardiopulmonary resuscitation CPS = Cerebral Performance Scale DNR = Do no resuscitate order ICU = Intensive care unit ILCOR = International Liaison IQR = Interquartile range PEA = Pulseless electric activity PetCO2 = Partial pressure of end-tidal carbon dioxide ROSC = Return of spontaneous circulation VT/VF = Ventricular Tachycardia/ Ventricular Fibrillation

INTRODUCTION

Cardiac arrest (CA) is a public health issue. It is assumed that 100000 in-hospital CA take place in Brazil every year[11 Gonzalez MM, Timerman S, Oliveira RG, Polastri TF, Dallan LA, Araújo S, et al. I Guideline For Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care - Brazilian Society of Cardiology: executive summary. Arq Bras Cardiol. 2013;100(2):105-13.]. According to the last available public data (DATASUS), in 2013, 120.000 in-hospital deaths were resisted in Minas Gerais state, and approximately 8.000 only in Juiz de Fora[22 In http://tabnet.datasus.gov.br/cgi/tabcgi.exe?sim/cnv/obt10MG.def. Acessado em 03/09/2015.
http://tabnet.datasus.gov.br/cgi/tabcgi....
]. It is known that 50% of in-hospital death takes place in Intensive Care Units (ICU)[33 Girotra S, Nallamothu BK, Spertus JA, Li Y, Krumholz HM, Chan PS; American Heart Association Get with the Guidelines-Resuscitation Investigators. Trends in survival after in-hospital cardiac arrest. N Engl J Med. 2012;367(20):1912-20.]. Despite increasing complexity in cases, survival rate after in-hospital CA has been improving in North America[33 Girotra S, Nallamothu BK, Spertus JA, Li Y, Krumholz HM, Chan PS; American Heart Association Get with the Guidelines-Resuscitation Investigators. Trends in survival after in-hospital cardiac arrest. N Engl J Med. 2012;367(20):1912-20.].

Since 1992, the International Liaison (ILCOR) has been working on providing evidence-based guidelines in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR)[44 Neumar RW, Otto CW, Link MS, Kronick SL, Shuster M, Callaway CW, et al. Part 8: adult advanced cardiovascular life support: 2010 American Heart Association Guidelines for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care. Circulation. 2010;122(18 Suppl 3):S729-67.]. In 2013, Brazilian researchers developed a local adaptation of these guidelines in order to improve adherence in Portuguese speaking physicians[11 Gonzalez MM, Timerman S, Oliveira RG, Polastri TF, Dallan LA, Araújo S, et al. I Guideline For Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care - Brazilian Society of Cardiology: executive summary. Arq Bras Cardiol. 2013;100(2):105-13.].

The volume of studies on the subject and the registration of cases attended, either in-hospital or extra-hospital cardiac arrest, have grown expressively[55 Enohumah KO, Moerer O, Kirmse C, Bahr J, Neumann RW, Quintel M. Outcome of cardiopulmonary resuscitation in intensive care units in a university hospital. Resuscitation. 2006;71(2):161-70.,66 Sandroni C, Nolan J, Cavallaro F, Antonelli M. In-hospital cardiac arrest: incidence, prognosis and possible measures to improve survival. Intensive Care Med. 2007;33(2):237-45.]. In several countries, there is a national register of attendance of CPRs[33 Girotra S, Nallamothu BK, Spertus JA, Li Y, Krumholz HM, Chan PS; American Heart Association Get with the Guidelines-Resuscitation Investigators. Trends in survival after in-hospital cardiac arrest. N Engl J Med. 2012;367(20):1912-20.,66 Sandroni C, Nolan J, Cavallaro F, Antonelli M. In-hospital cardiac arrest: incidence, prognosis and possible measures to improve survival. Intensive Care Med. 2007;33(2):237-45.,77 Efendijev I, Raj R, Reinikainen M, Hoppu S, Skrifvars MB. Temporal trends in cardiac arrest incidence and outcome in Finnish intensive care units from 2003 to 2013. Intensive Care Med. 2014;40(12):1853-61.]. This record makes it possible to evaluate the results, study the characteristics and epidemiology of each site, identify the main problems and propose improvements, increasing the survival of patients[33 Girotra S, Nallamothu BK, Spertus JA, Li Y, Krumholz HM, Chan PS; American Heart Association Get with the Guidelines-Resuscitation Investigators. Trends in survival after in-hospital cardiac arrest. N Engl J Med. 2012;367(20):1912-20.,66 Sandroni C, Nolan J, Cavallaro F, Antonelli M. In-hospital cardiac arrest: incidence, prognosis and possible measures to improve survival. Intensive Care Med. 2007;33(2):237-45.].

There has been an exponential growing number of publications regarding CPR records, including out-of-hospital and in-hospital cases[55 Enohumah KO, Moerer O, Kirmse C, Bahr J, Neumann RW, Quintel M. Outcome of cardiopulmonary resuscitation in intensive care units in a university hospital. Resuscitation. 2006;71(2):161-70.,66 Sandroni C, Nolan J, Cavallaro F, Antonelli M. In-hospital cardiac arrest: incidence, prognosis and possible measures to improve survival. Intensive Care Med. 2007;33(2):237-45.]. Many countries developed an CPR National Registry[66 Sandroni C, Nolan J, Cavallaro F, Antonelli M. In-hospital cardiac arrest: incidence, prognosis and possible measures to improve survival. Intensive Care Med. 2007;33(2):237-45.,77 Efendijev I, Raj R, Reinikainen M, Hoppu S, Skrifvars MB. Temporal trends in cardiac arrest incidence and outcome in Finnish intensive care units from 2003 to 2013. Intensive Care Med. 2014;40(12):1853-61.]. These records make it possible to evaluate the results, characteristics and epidemiology of each site, identify the main problems and propose improvements, increasing patients survival[33 Girotra S, Nallamothu BK, Spertus JA, Li Y, Krumholz HM, Chan PS; American Heart Association Get with the Guidelines-Resuscitation Investigators. Trends in survival after in-hospital cardiac arrest. N Engl J Med. 2012;367(20):1912-20.,66 Sandroni C, Nolan J, Cavallaro F, Antonelli M. In-hospital cardiac arrest: incidence, prognosis and possible measures to improve survival. Intensive Care Med. 2007;33(2):237-45.].

Nevertheless, there is no registry in Brazil, so far[11 Gonzalez MM, Timerman S, Oliveira RG, Polastri TF, Dallan LA, Araújo S, et al. I Guideline For Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care - Brazilian Society of Cardiology: executive summary. Arq Bras Cardiol. 2013;100(2):105-13.]. There is lack in data regarding ICU-CPR profile and prognostic factors associated with death or survival. There are few Brazilian studies and almost all of them were developed in reference university centers, that may not represent real-world concerning CPR in Brazilian ICUs[88 Gomes AMCG, Timerman A, Souza CAM, Mendes CMC, Póvoas Filho HP, Oliveira AM, et al. Fatores prognósticos de sobrevida pós-reanimação cardiorrespiratória cerebral em hospital geral. Arq Bras Cardiol. 2005; 85(4):262-71.,99 Bartholomay E, Dias FS, Torres FA, Jacobson P, Mariante A. Wainstein R, et al. Impacto das manobras de reanimação cardiorrespiratória cerebral em um hospital geral. Fatores prognósticos e desfechos. Arq Bras Cardiol. 2003; 81(1):181-8.]. This study prospectively investigated demographic profile and prognostic factors in ICU-CA and CPR in three mixed units is an average Brazilian city.

METHODS

This study was approved by the local Ethics Committee under the number 0120.0.420.000-10.

Between June 2011 and July 2014, 302 CA were observed in 273 patients in three mixed ICUs, with a total of 30 ICU beds.

Variables concerning CPR were registered in a Utstein style sheet form[1010 Cummins RO, Chamberlain D, Hazinski MF, Nadkarni V, Kloeck W, Kramer E et al. Recommended guidelines for reviewing, reporting, and conducting research on in-hospital resuscitation: the in-hospital 'Utstein style' American Heart Association. Circulation.1997;95(8):2213-39.]. Demographic data were collected prospectively. CPR survivors were followed until hospital discharge and neurological status evaluated using Cerebral Performance Scale (CPS)[1111 Stiell IG, Nesbitt LP, Nichol G, Maloney J, Dreyer J, Beaudoin T, et al; OPALS Study Group. Comparison of the Cerebral Performance Category score and the Health Utilities Index for survivors of cardiac arrest. Ann Emerg Med. 2009;53(2):241-8.].

Studied variable included age, sex, ICU admission diagnosis, CA cause, event time, initial rhythm, do no resuscitate order (DNR), medications and dosing during CPR, defibrillation, previous diagnosis, previous intra-arterial monitoring, previous vasoactive-inotrope usage, left ventricular ejection fraction, CPR duration, return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC), therapeutic hypothermia, hospital discharge and CPS.

Primary end-point was survival to hospital discharge and secondary end-points were ROSC and DNR. ROSC was considered only if pulse was present after one hour after CPR cessation and no need to further CPR during this period.

Average patient's age was 68.8±14.9 years (19-99 years). Male sex was preponderant (51.6%). ICU admission diagnoses are listed in Table 1.

Table 1
ICU admission diagnostic list.

Statistical Analysis

Kolmorov-Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilkis were used as normality tests. Continuous data with normal distribution were described as average and standard deviation. For a non-normal distribution, median and interquartile range (IQR) were used. Nominal and ordinal data were presented as percentages. Exact Fisher test or Mann-Whitney were chosen for group comparisons. Binary logistic regression analyzed prognostic factors for the end-points. A P value of 5% was used.

RESULTS

Demographic data of the 302 ICUCA studied are shown in Table 2.

Table 2
ICU-CA demographic data (n=302).

DNR was applicable in 60 (19.9%) patients. Univariate analysis found that prior left ventricular dysfunction, coronary disease, stroke as admission diagnosis, vasoactive drugs infusion, intra-arterial pressure monitoring and arrest during the dawn were associated with more DNR, while sepsis as an admission diagnosis was less associated with DNR (Table 3). However, multivariate analysis identified prior left ventricular dysfunction as a predictor of DNR (OR=3.1 [CI=1.03-9.4]; P=0.045) (Table 3).

Table 3
Univariate and Multivariate analysis regarding DNR order (n=302).

There was 242 CPR in 213 patients. Twenty-five patients were resuscitated twice, one received three CPR and another received four. ROSC was achieved in 59 (24.4%) cases. Older age and CA in the dawn (between 0 and 7 am) were associated with less ROSC as investigated by univariate analysis (Table 4). CA with initial shockable rhythm had a 68% ROSC rate, while asystole (18.3%), PEA (37.2%) and non-identified rhythms (8.5%) were associated with significantly less ROSC rate (OR: 24.9 (CI=2.4-257); P=0.007) (Table 4).

Table 4
Univariate and Multivariate analysis of variables related to ROSC (n=242).

When CPR was analyzed regarding response time, it was noticed a median time of 2 minutes between beginning of CPR and delivery of first defibrillation. Meanwhile, median time to intubation and first epinephrine dose was 7.5 minutes and 1 minute, respectively.

CPR time varied from one minute to two hours. Median CPR time was 19.5 minutes (IQR=7-30 min). Median CPR time in ROSC cases was 8 minutes (IQR=4-14 min), while in unsuccessful resuscitations it was 25 minutes (IQR=15-30 minutes; P<0.001; Figure 1). All CPRs timetable is represented in Table 5. Twenty-seven patients exhibited shockable rhythms. Fifteen of them received one defibrillation, three were defibrillated twice and eight received three or more defibrillations.

Fig. 1
Comparison between ROSC CPR cases and unsuccessful CPR time.

ROSC=return of spontaneous circulation, *P<0.0001 Mann-Whitney test.


Table 5
CPR timetable.

Median epinephrine total dose was 4 mg (IQR=2-8 mg). Dosing distribution is illustrated in Table 6.

Table 6
Epinephrine dosing distribution.

Other medications administered during CPR were atropine in 31 (13%) cases, sodium bicarbonate in 5.9% (14 cases), amiodarone in 10 (4.2%), norepinephrine in 7 (2.9%) cases, bolus saline infusion in 6 (2.5%), calcium gluconate in 1.7% (4 cases) and lidocaine and 50% glucose in one case each.

E-CPR was attempted in one patient. None of the patients were submitted to therapeutic hypothermia.

Survival to discharge was achieved in 12 patients out of 213 (5.6%). Ventricular tachycardia/ventricular fibrillation showed a 4.9 odds ratio when compared to other initial rhythms. No other predictor of survival was detected (Table 7)

Table 7
Univariate and multivariate analysis of variables related to survival (n=213).

Out of 12 survival patients, 10 presented a CPS score between 1 and 2, while other two presented a CPS of 3. One of these was a spine trauma patient with paraplegia before CA.

DISCUSSION

This data represents a three-year registry in three ICU of an average sized city in Brazil. This analysis presents some relevant issues regarding ICU-CA in developing countries. It also allows some inferences about CPR delivered quality.

It is known that ICU-CA survival ranges between 0-42%, depending on many factors, such as team experience and training and patients complexity/profile[66 Sandroni C, Nolan J, Cavallaro F, Antonelli M. In-hospital cardiac arrest: incidence, prognosis and possible measures to improve survival. Intensive Care Med. 2007;33(2):237-45.].

Recent studies pointed out increasing survival over the last years, especially with widespread adoption of ILCOR Guidelines[11 Gonzalez MM, Timerman S, Oliveira RG, Polastri TF, Dallan LA, Araújo S, et al. I Guideline For Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care - Brazilian Society of Cardiology: executive summary. Arq Bras Cardiol. 2013;100(2):105-13.,33 Girotra S, Nallamothu BK, Spertus JA, Li Y, Krumholz HM, Chan PS; American Heart Association Get with the Guidelines-Resuscitation Investigators. Trends in survival after in-hospital cardiac arrest. N Engl J Med. 2012;367(20):1912-20.,44 Neumar RW, Otto CW, Link MS, Kronick SL, Shuster M, Callaway CW, et al. Part 8: adult advanced cardiovascular life support: 2010 American Heart Association Guidelines for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care. Circulation. 2010;122(18 Suppl 3):S729-67.,77 Efendijev I, Raj R, Reinikainen M, Hoppu S, Skrifvars MB. Temporal trends in cardiac arrest incidence and outcome in Finnish intensive care units from 2003 to 2013. Intensive Care Med. 2014;40(12):1853-61.,1212 Ehlenbach WJ, Barnato AE, Curtis JR, Kreuter W, Koepsell TD, Deyo RA, et al. Epidemiologic study of in-hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation in the elderly. N Engl J Med. 2009;361(1):22-31.].

The present study noticed a DNR rate around 20% in this population. Since DNR orders in Brazil are not routinely adopted and vary greatly between hospitals and physicians, we evaluated variables related to this decision.

Previous Brazilian data report 65% DNR rate in ICU patients[1313 Moritz RD, Machado FO, Heerdt M, Rosso B, Beduschi G. Evaluation of medical decisions at the end-of-life process. Rev Bras Ter Intensiva. 2009;21(2):141-7.]. Previous international studies report a rate of DNR among inhospital and ICU-CA between 60% and 95%[66 Sandroni C, Nolan J, Cavallaro F, Antonelli M. In-hospital cardiac arrest: incidence, prognosis and possible measures to improve survival. Intensive Care Med. 2007;33(2):237-45.,1313 Moritz RD, Machado FO, Heerdt M, Rosso B, Beduschi G. Evaluation of medical decisions at the end-of-life process. Rev Bras Ter Intensiva. 2009;21(2):141-7.

14 Perkins GD, Soar J. In hospital cardiac arrest: missing links in the chain of survival. Resuscitation. 2005;66(3):253-5.
-1515 Schwenzer KJ, Smith WT, Durbin CG Jr. Selective application of cardiopulmonary resuscitation improves survival rates. Anesth Analg. 1993;76(3):478-84.].

In developed countries, mainly United States, there is a clear concern among family and ICU team about DNR orders in poor prognostic patients[1616 Ballew KA, Philbrick JT, Caven DE, Schorling JB. Predictors of survival following in-hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation. A moving target. Arch Intern Med. 1994;154(21):2426-32.,1717 Yuen JK, Reid MC, Fetters MD. Hospital do-not-resuscitate orders: why they have failed and how to fix them. J Gen Intern Med. 2011;26(7):791-7.]. As abovementioned, neither the participating ICUs nor the Brazilian hospitals had an expressed DNR order for this type of patients, so the decision of beginning CPR depended primarily on the physician on duty.

As expected and reported previously[66 Sandroni C, Nolan J, Cavallaro F, Antonelli M. In-hospital cardiac arrest: incidence, prognosis and possible measures to improve survival. Intensive Care Med. 2007;33(2):237-45.,1313 Moritz RD, Machado FO, Heerdt M, Rosso B, Beduschi G. Evaluation of medical decisions at the end-of-life process. Rev Bras Ter Intensiva. 2009;21(2):141-7.

14 Perkins GD, Soar J. In hospital cardiac arrest: missing links in the chain of survival. Resuscitation. 2005;66(3):253-5.
-1515 Schwenzer KJ, Smith WT, Durbin CG Jr. Selective application of cardiopulmonary resuscitation improves survival rates. Anesth Analg. 1993;76(3):478-84.], variables such as age, admission diagnosis, cause of CA and previous vasoactive drug administration were related to DNR orders in our population, yet they were not independent predictors. The only independent predictor in our series was left ventricular dysfunction. Although it is not a common finding, it may represent the sickest patients in this sample.

CPR maneuvers in very sick patients with low or no prognosis is a very disputable topic and concern about it is gaining space in the literature[1818 Mancini ME. It's time to understand the dynamics of "do not attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation" orders. Resuscitation. 2015;88:A1-2.,1919 Larkin GL, Copes WS, Nathanson BH, Kaye W. Pre-resuscitation factors associated with mortality in 49,130 cases of in-hospital cardiac arrest: a report from the National Registry for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation. Resuscitation. 2010;81(3):302-11.]. Guidelines and current data assure the importance of prevention CA and selecting more and more which cases to perform CPR[1818 Mancini ME. It's time to understand the dynamics of "do not attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation" orders. Resuscitation. 2015;88:A1-2.,1919 Larkin GL, Copes WS, Nathanson BH, Kaye W. Pre-resuscitation factors associated with mortality in 49,130 cases of in-hospital cardiac arrest: a report from the National Registry for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation. Resuscitation. 2010;81(3):302-11.].

In the present study, our CA prevalence was 75 cases per 1000 ICU admissions, which is high compared to other international reports that relate 13 to 29 CA per 1000 ICU admissions[55 Enohumah KO, Moerer O, Kirmse C, Bahr J, Neumann RW, Quintel M. Outcome of cardiopulmonary resuscitation in intensive care units in a university hospital. Resuscitation. 2006;71(2):161-70.

6 Sandroni C, Nolan J, Cavallaro F, Antonelli M. In-hospital cardiac arrest: incidence, prognosis and possible measures to improve survival. Intensive Care Med. 2007;33(2):237-45.
-77 Efendijev I, Raj R, Reinikainen M, Hoppu S, Skrifvars MB. Temporal trends in cardiac arrest incidence and outcome in Finnish intensive care units from 2003 to 2013. Intensive Care Med. 2014;40(12):1853-61.].

Only one out of four CPR patients in our series have achieved ROSC. This result is similar to one previously reported Brazilian experience[88 Gomes AMCG, Timerman A, Souza CAM, Mendes CMC, Póvoas Filho HP, Oliveira AM, et al. Fatores prognósticos de sobrevida pós-reanimação cardiorrespiratória cerebral em hospital geral. Arq Bras Cardiol. 2005; 85(4):262-71.], but very poor compared to current literature, including other Brazilian reports[99 Bartholomay E, Dias FS, Torres FA, Jacobson P, Mariante A. Wainstein R, et al. Impacto das manobras de reanimação cardiorrespiratória cerebral em um hospital geral. Fatores prognósticos e desfechos. Arq Bras Cardiol. 2003; 81(1):181-8.,2020 Nadkarni VM, Larkin GL, Peberdy MA, Carey SM, Kaye W, Mancini ME, et al; National Registry of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Investigators. First documented rhythm and clinical outcome from in-hospital cardiac arrest among children and adults. JAMA. 2006;295(1):50-7.].

Because of that, survival rate was low (5.6%) when compared to international literature[33 Girotra S, Nallamothu BK, Spertus JA, Li Y, Krumholz HM, Chan PS; American Heart Association Get with the Guidelines-Resuscitation Investigators. Trends in survival after in-hospital cardiac arrest. N Engl J Med. 2012;367(20):1912-20.,55 Enohumah KO, Moerer O, Kirmse C, Bahr J, Neumann RW, Quintel M. Outcome of cardiopulmonary resuscitation in intensive care units in a university hospital. Resuscitation. 2006;71(2):161-70.

6 Sandroni C, Nolan J, Cavallaro F, Antonelli M. In-hospital cardiac arrest: incidence, prognosis and possible measures to improve survival. Intensive Care Med. 2007;33(2):237-45.
-77 Efendijev I, Raj R, Reinikainen M, Hoppu S, Skrifvars MB. Temporal trends in cardiac arrest incidence and outcome in Finnish intensive care units from 2003 to 2013. Intensive Care Med. 2014;40(12):1853-61.,1313 Moritz RD, Machado FO, Heerdt M, Rosso B, Beduschi G. Evaluation of medical decisions at the end-of-life process. Rev Bras Ter Intensiva. 2009;21(2):141-7.

14 Perkins GD, Soar J. In hospital cardiac arrest: missing links in the chain of survival. Resuscitation. 2005;66(3):253-5.
-1515 Schwenzer KJ, Smith WT, Durbin CG Jr. Selective application of cardiopulmonary resuscitation improves survival rates. Anesth Analg. 1993;76(3):478-84.]. It is clear that there was a high rate of CPR in the ICU (low DNR orders) and a bad result compared to the literature. Were there too many attempts of resuscitation?

When the aspects of CPR were analyzed, ventricular tachycardia/ ventricular fibrillation (VT/VF) was found to be the only predictor of ROSC. That finding is very similar to previous reports[55 Enohumah KO, Moerer O, Kirmse C, Bahr J, Neumann RW, Quintel M. Outcome of cardiopulmonary resuscitation in intensive care units in a university hospital. Resuscitation. 2006;71(2):161-70.,1919 Larkin GL, Copes WS, Nathanson BH, Kaye W. Pre-resuscitation factors associated with mortality in 49,130 cases of in-hospital cardiac arrest: a report from the National Registry for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation. Resuscitation. 2010;81(3):302-11.]. Other findings, such as CA immediate causes, admission diagnosis e resuscitation timing were not divergent from the literature[88 Gomes AMCG, Timerman A, Souza CAM, Mendes CMC, Póvoas Filho HP, Oliveira AM, et al. Fatores prognósticos de sobrevida pós-reanimação cardiorrespiratória cerebral em hospital geral. Arq Bras Cardiol. 2005; 85(4):262-71.,99 Bartholomay E, Dias FS, Torres FA, Jacobson P, Mariante A. Wainstein R, et al. Impacto das manobras de reanimação cardiorrespiratória cerebral em um hospital geral. Fatores prognósticos e desfechos. Arq Bras Cardiol. 2003; 81(1):181-8.,1919 Larkin GL, Copes WS, Nathanson BH, Kaye W. Pre-resuscitation factors associated with mortality in 49,130 cases of in-hospital cardiac arrest: a report from the National Registry for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation. Resuscitation. 2010;81(3):302-11.

20 Nadkarni VM, Larkin GL, Peberdy MA, Carey SM, Kaye W, Mancini ME, et al; National Registry of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Investigators. First documented rhythm and clinical outcome from in-hospital cardiac arrest among children and adults. JAMA. 2006;295(1):50-7.
-2121 Timerman A, Sauaia N, Piegas LS, Ramos RF, Gun C, Santos ES, et al. Fatores prognósticos dos resultados de ressuscitação cardiopulmonar em um hospital de cardiologia. Arq Bras Cardiol. 2001; 7(2):141-51.].

Some other observations lead us to infer that there was not a complete adherence to the guidelines. At least 31 cases received atropine and none of the patients that achieved ROSC were submitted to hypothermia. At the time of the study, hypothermia was suggested by the guidelines, especially in VT/VF cases[2222 Silva SC, Padilha KG. Parada cardiorrespiratória na unidade de terapia intensiva: considerações teóricas sobre os fatores relacionados às ocorrências iatrogênicas. Rev Esc Enferm USP. 2001;35(4):360-5.,2323 Ornato JP, Peberdy MA, Reid RD, Feeser VR, Dhindsa HS; NRCPR Investigators. Impact of resuscitation system errors on survival from in-hospital cardiac arrest. Resuscitation. 2012;83(1):63-9.]. Although some experimental studies suggest that partial pressure of end-tidal carbon dioxide (PetCO2) may not predict ROSC as expected[2424 Macedo AC, Martins LC, Paschoal IA, Ovalle CC, Araújo S, Moreira MM. PetCO2, VCO2 and CorPP values in the successful prediction of the return of spontaneous circulation: an experimental study on unassisted induced cardiopulmonary arrest. Braz J Cardiovasc Surg. 2016;31(6):468-73.], its use is encouraged by the guidelines[11 Gonzalez MM, Timerman S, Oliveira RG, Polastri TF, Dallan LA, Araújo S, et al. I Guideline For Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care - Brazilian Society of Cardiology: executive summary. Arq Bras Cardiol. 2013;100(2):105-13.]. Yet its use was not reported in any of the 302 cases.

The ICU admission diagnosis table revealed that over 40% of the patients were surgical cases, known to be patients with better prognosis[66 Sandroni C, Nolan J, Cavallaro F, Antonelli M. In-hospital cardiac arrest: incidence, prognosis and possible measures to improve survival. Intensive Care Med. 2007;33(2):237-45.,1212 Ehlenbach WJ, Barnato AE, Curtis JR, Kreuter W, Koepsell TD, Deyo RA, et al. Epidemiologic study of in-hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation in the elderly. N Engl J Med. 2009;361(1):22-31.]. Mechanical circulatory support, which may positively impact survival in these patients[2525 Miana LA, Canêo LF, Tanamati C, Penha JG, Guimarães VA, Miura N, et al. Post-cardiotomy ECMO in pediatric and congenital heart surgery: impact of team training and equipment in the results. Rev Bras Cir Cardiovasc. 2015;30(4):409-16.], was not available in those ICUs.

On the other hand, average age was 70 years-old with a high incidence of vasoactive drugs administration and the main immediate cause of CA was hypotension, leading to the idea that it was a high-risk cohort.

In 2003, a United States registry of 15k CPRs showed that arrhythmias and hypoxia (reversible causes) were the main immediate CA causes. Hypotension was in third. ROSC and survival rate was 44 and 17%, respectively[2626 Peberdy MA, Kaye W, Ornato JP, Larkin GJ, Nadkarny V, Mancini ME, et al. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation of adults in the hospital: a report of 14720 cardiac arrests from the National Registry of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation. Resuscitation. 2003;58(3):297-308.]. Recently, the same registry, now with over 80k patients points out a tendency to increase the survival rate (22.3%)[33 Girotra S, Nallamothu BK, Spertus JA, Li Y, Krumholz HM, Chan PS; American Heart Association Get with the Guidelines-Resuscitation Investigators. Trends in survival after in-hospital cardiac arrest. N Engl J Med. 2012;367(20):1912-20.].

In Brazil, the adoption of a National Registry and data bank that might allow results evaluation and comparison would be very desirable and may eventually save thousands of lives.

CONCLUSION

The prospective evaluation of 302 CA in three years in three different ICUs identified 24.4% and 5.6% ROSC and survival rates, respectively. Shockable rhythm was the only predictor of ROSC and survival.

There was a 19.9% rate of DNR orders in the ICU-CA and left ventricular dysfunction was a predictor of DNR.

Authors' roles & responsibilities LAM Concept/design; drafting article; data interpretation; final approval of the version to be published MMM Data collection; data interpretation; final approval of the version to be published; final approval of the version to be published BMM Data collection; data interpretation; data collection; data interpretation, Statistics; final approval of the version to be published PGP Data collection; data interpretation; statistics; final approval of the version to be published EVJ Data collection; data interpretation; final approval of the version to be published RUM Data collection; data interpretation; final approval of the version to be published AMA Concept/design; drafting article; data interpretation; final approval of the version to be published
  • This study was carried out at Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora (FAMED-UFJF), Juiz de Fora, MG, Brazil.
  • Financial Support: Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG), APQ-04716-10.

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Publication Dates

  • Publication in this collection
    May-Jun 2017

History

  • Received
    06 Mar 2017
  • Accepted
    30 Mar 2017
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