[Survival and neurological outcome in out-of-hospital cardiac arrests due to shockable rhythms treated with mild therapeutic hypothermia]

Objective: To analyze survival and neurological outcome at short and medium term in patients treated with mild therapeutic hypothermia (HTM) in our hospital after suffering an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (CA) secondary to a shockable rhythm.

Design: Prospective, observational study from September 1, 2010 to December 31, 2012, with a follow up of 6 months.

Setting: Tertiary hospital.

Patients: All patients who suffer an out-of-hospital CA due to shockable rhythms.

Exclusion criteria: non-shockable rhythms, resuscitation >45 minutes without pulse recovery, septic shock, previous coagulopathy, terminal illness or order for withholding treatment.

Intervention: Mild hypothermia (33°C) and postresuscitation care on the basis of standardized protocols.

Main variables: Demographic and epidemiological data, CA data and survival and neurological outcome at hospital discharge and after 6 months. To assess the patients' neurological status, Cerebral Performance Categories (CPC) scale was used.

Results: A total of 54 patients were analyzed. 37 patients were discharged to hospital, representing a survival at discharge of 68.5%, which remains 6 months later because no discharged patient died during the follow up period. Regarding neurological outcome, 44.4% of patients were alive and with CPC 1-2 at discharge and up to 54.71% at 6 months.

Conclusions: The results of survival and neurological functional status obtained in our center after implementation of HTM are comparable to those published in the literature.