Active clinical trials for "Heart Arrest"

During thoracic aortic surgery, hypothermic cardiac arrest causes aortic ischemia and reperfusion (IR) periods, respectively. Aortic ischemia results in an ischemic insult to the lower extremities and successive reperfusion results in injury to remote organs, including kidneys. So, there has been considerable interest in the development of therapeutic strategies aimed at attenuating IR injury. One such group of agents that are attracting interest due to their potential protective effects on vascular endothelium is the erythropoietin. However, the effect of erythropoietin on renal injury induced by aortic IR in humane has not been fully clarified. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to determine whether the prophylactic administration of erythropoietin reduce the incidence of acute kidney injury (AKI) in patients undergoing thoracic aorta surgery with hypothermic cardiac arrest. The investigators administrate the erythropoietin single bolus (500 IU/kg intravenously) 30 min before the commencement of ischemia. The differences between the control and study groups are observed by clinical indicators such as serum creatinine, TNF-α, NGAL.

3500 people suffer from out of hospital cardiac arrest each year in Denmark. Therapeutic hypothermia to 33 degrees celsius is now standard treatment of comatose cardiac arrest patients. The investigators are challenged in our attempt to predict outcome of these patients by both low body temperature in itself and the sedative and relaxing drugs used to keep the patient in a coma. This study is a substudy in a large international multicenter randomized trial that investigates the possible benefit of 48 hours of therapeutic hypothermia versus todays standard of 24 hours. In this substudy the investigators will approach early prediction of neurological outcome using a combination of new examinations backed up by well established ones to engage this challenge from different angles and find a battery of combined examinations, that together will enable us to accurately predict outcome at an earlier stage. Our examinations have been chosen from the three fields of neurophysiology, biochemistry and neurology and consist of electroencephalography (EEG), somatosensory evoked potentials (SEP), biomarkers and clinical examinations such as brain stem reflexes chosen for their prognostic reliability.

The objective of the COOLCATH study is to compare the effect of the RhinoChill transnasal cooling system to current standard Blanketrol III cooling blanket in its ability to achieve therapeutic hypothermia (TH) induction for patients undergoing TH after cardiac arrest. The COOLCATH study will be a prospective, open-label randomized controlled trial comparing induction of TH efficacy and outcomes of patients following cardiac arrest. Any patient with return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) following a cardiac arrest within the Essex Cardiothoracic Centre (CTC), or who is brought to the Essex CTC and is a candidate for TH will be considered for this study.

Single centre randomized controlled two arm clinical trial of patients after out of hospital cardiac arrest with return of spontaneous circulation. The trial objective is to investigate external cooling of cardiac arrest patients after cardiac arrest with the CAERvest cooling device. After checking inclusion and exclusion criteria and immediately after return of spontaneous circulation, the CAERvest device will be filled and placed on the supine patient's chest. A recording oesophageal temperature probe will be inserted and connected to the defibrillator. Then the patient will be transported to the Emergency Department. After admission to the emergency department, an additional endovascular cooling device will be placed and the patient will be cooled to 33°C for 24 hours (starting after reaching the target temperature range of under 34°C) with the endovascular cooling device. Then the patient will be rewarmed at 0.25 °C/h. The CAERvest device will be removed, when a temperature below 34°C is reached. After rewarming, the temperature will be controlled to be below 37.5°C for until 48 hours after cardiac arrest. After this time point pyrexia (core temperature above 37.5°C) will be treated with common pharmaceutical measures. Sedation, analgesia and relaxation will be discontinued at 36.5°C. Neurologic evaluation will be started not before 72 hours after cardiac arrest with a predefined evaluation protocol. During follow up the following secondary outcomes will be recorded: Survival to hospital discharge, survival to 30 days, survival to 6 months, best neurologic function within 30 days, best neurologic function within 6 months, and quality of life at 6 months.

The cause of cardiac arrest mostly determines outcomes of cardiac arrest survivors. Identifying and treating the cause of cardiac arrest constitute a critical part in post-arrest care. However, the pathophysiology of cardiac arrest often encompasses multiple organ systems. Thus, forming accurate diagnosis for each case presents a daunting challenge, especially for unexperienced physicians. This study aims to evaluate whether a standardized protocol would improve the diagnostic proficiency for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) patients. Sixteen Emergency Medicine Residents from National Taiwan University Hospital participated in this study. The cause classification of OHCA (CCCA) protocol was developed by an expert cardiac arrest committee, and a lecture concerning the Utstein's template, the epidemiology of cardiac arrest and the CCCA protocol was addressed. Pre-/post-lecture questionnaires regarding self-assessed diagnostic certainty and knowledge of cardiac arrest were obtained and compared to evaluate participants' learning effectiveness. To validate the efficiency of protocol, medical records of 586 non-traumatic OHCA adults with successful resuscitation and ICU admission were reviewed retrospectively, and the OHCA cause of each patient was identified by the trained residents following CCCA protocol. The primary outcome was the diagnostic consistency between protocolized diagnosis, expert diagnosis and the discharge diagnosis

To compare the efficacy of amiodarone to conventional anti-arrhythmic therapy in individuals who had survived one episode of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

The present study will: Aim 1: Enroll 15 family members of CA patients to (a) pilot recruitment procedures, (b) estimate retention, and (c) assess acceptability of study procedures. Family members will be randomized to either complete an ICU diary or to a control condition, and will complete surveys in the ICU, at patient discharge, and 30 days post-discharge. Aim 2: Obtain an estimate of the association of intervention v. control with (i) family member fear (operationalized as cardiac anxiety about the patients' cardiac condition) at hospital discharge and (ii) family member PTSS 30 days post-discharge. Exploratory Aims: Obtain an estimate of the association of intervention v. control with family member aversive cognitions towards exercise at hospital discharge.

In comatose patients resuscitated from out of hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA), neurological injuries remain the leading cause of death. The in-hospital mortality is reported at 30-50%, and the total mortality, although improved substantially over the last decade, remain to be significant, in most countries at up to 90%. An adequate blood pressure must be maintained in the post-cardiac arrest patient and helps to avoid further brain injury. The current trial addresses strategies for neuroprotection using a design of two different target blood pressure levels. "Normal MAP" (approximately 65 mmHg) vs. "high MAP" (approximately 75 mmHg). Markers measuring global cerebral ischemia caused by cardiac arrest and consecutive resuscitation, and reflecting the metabolic changes after successful resuscitation are urgently needed to enable a more personalized resuscitation and post resuscitation care. It is technically simple and feasible to place a microdialysis catheter in the jugular bulb and monitor biochemical variables related to cerebral energy metabolism bedside. The LP ratio obtained from microdialysis of cerebral venous blood may be a sensitive indicator of impending cerebral damage and might play a critical role in detecting the early responses of post resuscitation care. Aim of this study is to investigate the global cerebral metabolic changes during CA and post-resuscitation care.

Bystander CPR improves survival from Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest. This study examines the efficacy of ultra-brief video training for Hands-Only CPR. Subjects were randomized to one of four training conditions, then assessed for CPR skills retention.

This protocol is a prospective interventional pilot study at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia to determine whether or not two increments of sternal pressure known to occur during "leaning" in CPR affects hemodynamic function, coronary perfusion pressures, and intrathoracic pressure in order to inform the resuscitation community on reasonable target pressures to avoid "leaning" on the chest during pediatric CPR.