New treatment bundles improve survival in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients: a historical comparison.

INTRODUCTION: Before the introduction of the new international cardiac arrest treatment guidelines in 2005, patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) of cardiac origin in Northern Italy had very poor prognosis. Since 2006, a new bundle of care comprising use of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) and therapeutic hypothermia (TH) was started, while extracorporeal CPR program (ECPR) for selected refractory CA and dispatcher-assisted cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) was started in January 2010. OBJECTIVES: We hypothesized that a program of bundled care might improve outcome of OHCA patients. METHODS: We analyzed data collected in the OHCA registry of the MB area between September 2007 and August 2011 and compared this with data from 2000 to 2003. RESULTS: Between 2007 and 2011, 1128 OHCAs occurred in the MB area, 745 received CPR and 461 of these had a CA of presumed cardiac origin. Of these, 125 (27%) achieved sustained ROSC, 60 (13%) survived to 1 month, of whom 51 (11%) were discharged from hospital with a good neurological outcome (CPC≤2), and 9 with a poor neurological outcome (CPC>2). Compared with data from the 2000 to 2003 periods, survival increased from 5.6% to 13.01% (p<0.0001). In the 2007-2011 group, low-flow time and bystander CPR were independent markers of survival. CONCLUSIONS: OHCA survival has improved in our region. An increased bystander CPR rate associated with dispatcher-assisted CPR was the most significant cause of increased survival, but duration of CA remains critical for patient outcome.

Measurement of pulmonary edema in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome.

OBJECTIVE: We measured pulmonary edema by thermal indocyanine green-dye double-dilution technique and quantitative computed tomography (CT) in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome and compared the two techniques. DESIGN AND SETTING: Prospective human study in a university hospital. PATIENTS: Fourteen mechanically ventilated patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (nine primary; nine with intubation <7 days). INTERVENTIONS: All patients underwent a spiral CT of the thorax. We measured pulmonary thermal volume (PTV) and its components, extravascular lung water and pulmonary blood volume, with an integrated fiberoptic monitoring system (COLD Z-021). MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: PTV was tightly correlated with lung weight (LW) measured by CT (PTV = 0.6875 * LW(CT) + 292.77; correlation coefficient = 0.91; p < .0001; bias -11 +/- 8 %). Neither etiology of acute respiratory distress syndrome (primary vs. secondary) nor days of intubation affected the accuracy of thermal dye dilution in comparison with CT. There was no correlation between the extravascular lung water (12.3 +/- 3.4 mL/kg) and CT distribution of lung tissue compartments. Extravascular lung water and pulmonary blood volume showed good reproducibility in 32 pairs of thermal dye dilution measurements. CONCLUSIONS: Measurements of lung edema by thermal indocyanine green-dye double-dilution method show good correlation with those by quantitative computed tomography and good reproducibility in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome.