Worldwide, death from cardiac arrest in the out-of-hospital setting remains the leading cause of mortality. Focuses have aimed at improving bystander CPR, public access to AEDs, minimizing chest compression interruptions, and decreasing the emphasis on advanced airway management. This latter concept has become so important that the AHA/ASA have now changed their “ABC” philosophy to “CAB.” Below is the review of the literature that has changed this philosophy.
Does Prehospital Intubation Attempts Affect Survival to Hospital Discharge in Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OHCA)? 1
What they did
- Retrospective study design at single site (Mecklenbeurg County, NC)
- 1,142 cardiac arrests
Primary outcomes
- Pre-hospital return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC)
- Survival to hospital discharge
Descriptive data
- 697/1142 (61%) of patients were male
- 619/1142 (54.2%) of patients were Caucasian
- 302/1142 (25.5%) had VF/VT arrest
- 142/1142 (12.8%) witnessed by EMS or first responders
- 299/1142 (26.2%) had pre-hospital ROSC
Results
- Pre-hospital endotracheal intubation (ETI) vs NO ETI: 25.3% vs 45.3% with pre-hospital ROSC
- 118/299 (39.5%) of patients with ROSC were discharged alive
Limitations
- ETI attempts was a self reported variable
- Some outcome data from the hospitals was missing
Conclusions
There is a NEGATIVE association between pre-hospital ETI attempts and survival from OHCA.
Does Prehospital Intubation Attempts Affect Survival and Neurologic Outcome in Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OHCA)? 2
What they did
- Prospective, nationwide, population-based study using all-Japan Utstein Registry
- 649,654 adults in Japan with OHCA
Primary outcome
- Favorable neurological outcome 1 month after OHCA
Descriptive data
- 367,837/649,359 (57%) underwent BVM
- 281,522/649,359 (43%) underwent advanced airway management
- Overall rate of ROSC 6.5%
- Overall rate of 1 month survival 4.7%
- Overall rate of favorable neurologic outcome 2.2%
Results
Looking at ETI vs supraglottic airway vs BVM –
- Favorable neurological outcome: 1.0%, 1.1%, and 2.9%, respectively
- OR for favorable neurological outcome: 0.41, 0.38, 0.38, respectively
Limitations
- Observational study
- Absence of information regarding the process of intubation
- Japanese population only
Conclusion
In OHCA, advanced airway (ETI or supraglottic airway) was independently associated with a DECREASED neurologically favorable outcome compared to conventional BVM.
Bottom Line
Pre-hospital advanced airway WORSENS survival and neurologic outcome in OHCA.
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