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Had a run of these recently, and not sure quite what else to do with them:
Cardiac arrest brought in by EMS. At initial face value, this are at least viable codes. Young-ish people, reasonable onset of CPR, tubed in the field, have access. They of course have cardiac risk factors if not actual known CAD.
Work on them for a while, get them back. Post-ROSC vitals: P180s, BP 200/100, about what you'd expect from someone who just got a crap ton of epi. In the next few minutes however, start to slow down the HR. BP starts to drop. Get a pressor hanging at maximum, push bicarbonate, doesn't do it. Lose pulses. Start over again, 1-2 rounds CPR/epi, ROSC. Hypertensive/tachycardic again, but not for long. Pressor #2 goes up. Then #3. A line in at this point, watching them slow down and pressure drops out. Another round of ACLS, another ROSC. Good ETCO2, oxygenating, but can't maintain pulses. Bedside us: nothing helpful (no tamponade, no grossly dilated RV, no PTX), and around and around we go.
If they didn't come back rapidly, then we'd call it. If pulses maintained more than 5 minutes we'd have something to work with. In a future society this might be a perfect ECMO candidate. In the meantime, what do you do with these people who continue to show signs of life?
Cardiac arrest brought in by EMS. At initial face value, this are at least viable codes. Young-ish people, reasonable onset of CPR, tubed in the field, have access. They of course have cardiac risk factors if not actual known CAD.
Work on them for a while, get them back. Post-ROSC vitals: P180s, BP 200/100, about what you'd expect from someone who just got a crap ton of epi. In the next few minutes however, start to slow down the HR. BP starts to drop. Get a pressor hanging at maximum, push bicarbonate, doesn't do it. Lose pulses. Start over again, 1-2 rounds CPR/epi, ROSC. Hypertensive/tachycardic again, but not for long. Pressor #2 goes up. Then #3. A line in at this point, watching them slow down and pressure drops out. Another round of ACLS, another ROSC. Good ETCO2, oxygenating, but can't maintain pulses. Bedside us: nothing helpful (no tamponade, no grossly dilated RV, no PTX), and around and around we go.
If they didn't come back rapidly, then we'd call it. If pulses maintained more than 5 minutes we'd have something to work with. In a future society this might be a perfect ECMO candidate. In the meantime, what do you do with these people who continue to show signs of life?