Wednesday September 03, 2008
Do we need to start thinking about extracorporeal life support in cardiopulmonary resuscitation?

A study by Chen from national Taiwan University hospital evaluated the role of cardiopulmonary resuscitation with assisted extracorporeal life support versus conventional cardiopulmonary resuscitation in adults with in-hospital cardiac arrest.

Study Design: 3 year prospective observational study with 113 enrolled in the conventional CPR and 59 enrolled in the extracorporeal CPR group out of total 975 patients with in-hospital cardiac arrest.

Results:

• Unmatched patients who underwent extracorporeal CPR had a higher survival rate to discharge and a better 1 year survival than those received conventional CPR (p=.0007).
• Between the propensity matched group, there was a significant difference to survival to discharge hazard ratio (HR=0.51), and a 30 days and one year survival (HR 0.53)
  

Conclusion: In patients with in hospital cardiac arrest, extracorporeal CRP had a short and long term benefit over conventional CPR.



Reference: Click to get abstract/article

Chen Y, Lin J, Yu H, Ko W et al. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation with assisted extracorporeal life support versus conventional cardiopulmonary resuscitation in adults with in-hospital cardiac arrest: an observational study and propensity analysis. Lancet 2008; 372(9638): 554-561