Faculty Collaboration Database

Prehospital experience with defibrillation of coarse ventricular fibrillation: a ten-year review. Ann Emerg Med 1990 Feb;19(2):157-62

Date

02/01/1990

Pubmed ID

2301793

DOI

10.1016/s0196-0644(05)81801-3

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-0025157141 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   95 Citations

Abstract

Early defibrillation of patients with coarse ventricular fibrillation has been implicated as a predictor of survival in prehospital cardiac arrest. A retrospective study of our experience with prehospital defibrillation was conducted to define the relationship between rapid delivery of first countershock and survival, determine whether a relationship exists between the number of countershocks delivered and the save rate, and assist clinicians with general guidelines for termination of advanced life support efforts in the presence of ventricular fibrillation refractory to multiple defibrillation attempts. During the ten-year study period, adult, nontraumatic, nonpoisoned, witnessed arrests with an initial rhythm of coarse ventricular fibrillation were reviewed. Of 1,497 patients, 25% survived, 13% were paramedic-witnessed (PW) arrests, and 87% were non-paramedic-witnessed (NPW) arrests. The mean PW shock time, defined as time from arrest to first shock, was 1.6 +/- 3.7 minutes with a save rate of 37%. The mean NPW shock time was 10.2 +/- 5.1 minutes with a save rate of 23% (P less than or equal to .001). Thirty-two percent of PW arrests were converted to a spontaneous rhythm with pulses after the first countershock compared with 9% of NPW arrests (P less than or equal to .001). There was a dramatic decrease in PW arrests obtaining a perfusing rhythm after the first countershock attempt with each minute delay in electrical countershock up to three minutes; a plateau effect was evident after three minutes.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Author List

Hargarten KM, Stueven HA, Waite EM, Olson DW, Mateer JR, Aufderheide TP, Darin JC

Author

Tom P. Aufderheide MD Professor in the Emergency Medicine department at Medical College of Wisconsin

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Aged
Electric Countershock
Emergency Medical Services
Female
Heart Arrest
Humans
Incidence
Male
Middle Aged
Retrospective Studies
Survival Rate
Ventricular Fibrillation
Wisconsin