Lower risk of death in survivors of out of hospital cardiac arrest with PCI and therapeutic hypothermia

Dumas F and colleagues have found a lower risk of death in survivors of out of hospital cardiac arrest with PCI (percutaneous coronary intervention) and therapeutic hypothermia [Long-Term Prognosis Following Resuscitation From Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest. Role of Percutaneous Coronary Intervention and Therapeutic Hypothermia. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2012;60:21-27]. They accessed the records of those who were discharged alive from hospital after a resuscitated out of hospital cardiac arrest. Of around six thousand people in whom resuscitation was attempted by the emergency medical service over a period of nine years, thousand and one were discharged alive from hospital (16.8 percent). Three hundred and eighty four of them had received PCI while two hundred and forty one of the nine hundred and forty one who were comatose at hospital admission received therapeutic hypothermia. PCI group showed a higher five year survival of 78.7 percent compared to 54.4 percent who did not have PCI. Similarly, therapeutic hypothermia was also associated with a higher five year survival (77.5 percent) compared to those who did not receive therapeutic hypothermia (60.4 percent).