Strategies for reversing shock-resistant ventricular fibrillation

Current Opinion in Critical Care

Volumn 9, Issue 3, 2003, Pages 189-193

  Sarkozy, Andrea ^a   Dorian, Paul ^a  

^a ST MICHAEL'S HOSPITAL   (Canada)

Author keywords

Cardiac arrest; Cardiac life support; Ventricular fibrillation

Indexed keywords

ADRENALIN; AMIODARONE; ANTIARRHYTHMIC AGENT; BETA ADRENERGIC RECEPTOR BLOCKING AGENT; BRETYLIUM; LIDOCAINE; MAGNESIUM SULFATE; NORADRENALIN; POLYSORBATE 80; PROCAINAMIDE; VASOPRESSIN;

ACUTE HEART INFARCTION; CLINICAL PRACTICE; CLINICAL TRIAL; DEFIBRILLATION; DEFIBRILLATOR; DRUG BLOOD LEVEL; DRUG CONTRAINDICATION; DRUG EFFECT; DRUG EFFICACY; DRUG INDICATION; DRUG MECHANISM; DRUG SAFETY; HEART ARREST; HEART ARRHYTHMIA; HEART HEMODYNAMICS; HEART INFARCTION PREVENTION; HEART VENTRICLE FIBRILLATION; HEART VENTRICLE TACHYCARDIA; HUMAN; META ANALYSIS; MORTALITY; NONHUMAN; PRACTICE GUIDELINE; RANDOMIZATION; RECURRENT DISEASE; RESUSCITATION; REVIEW; SIDE EFFECT; TREATMENT FAILURE; TREATMENT OUTCOME; UNSTABLE ANGINA PECTORIS; WAVEFORM;

ADRENERGIC BETA-ANTAGONISTS; AMIODARONE; ANTI-ARRHYTHMIA AGENTS; BRETYLIUM COMPOUNDS; CARDIOPULMONARY RESUSCITATION; ELECTRIC COUNTERSHOCK; HEART ARREST; HEMODYNAMIC PROCESSES; HUMANS; LIDOCAINE; MAGNESIUM; PROCAINAMIDE; VASOCONSTRICTOR AGENTS; VASOPRESSINS; VENTRICULAR FIBRILLATION;

EID: 0038542818     PISSN: 10705295     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1097/00075198-200306000-00003     Document Type: Review

References (36)

1. Eisenberg MS, Mengert TJ: Cardiac resuscitation. N Engl J Med 2001, 344:1304-1313. This is a recent, excellent, and complete review of cardiac resuscitation.
2. Gliner BE, White RD: Electrocardiographic evaluation of defibrillation shocks delivered to out of hospital sudden cardiac arrest patients. Resuscitation 1999, 41:133-144.
3. Guidelines 2000 for cardiopulmonary resuscitation and emergency cardiovascular care international consensus on science. Circulation 2000, 102(suppl I):I90-I93.
4. Qin H, Walcott GP, Killingsworth CR, et al.: Impact of myocardial ischemia and reperfusion on ventricular defibrillation patterns, energy requirements, and detection of recovery. Circulation 2002, 105:2537-2542. An interesting animal study showing that in the presence of ischemia and reperfusion, early recurrence of ventricular fibrillation may appear as a failed shock because of the delayed recovery of standard electrocardiographic amplifier from postshock saturation.
5. Kudenchuk PJ, Cobb LA, Copass MK, et al.: Amiodarone for resuscitation after out of hospital cardiac arrest due to ventricular fibrillation. N Engl J Med 1999, 341:871-878.
6. Dorian P, Cass D, Schwartz B et al.: Amiodarone as compared with lidocaine for shock-resistant ventricular fibrillation. N Engl J Med 2002, 346;884-890. This recent randomized, double-masked clinical trial involving 347 patients in out-of-hospital shock-refractory ventricular fibrillation showed that amiodarone is superior to lidocaine regarding the primary end point: survival to hospital admission.
7. Cummins RO, Hazinski MF, Kerber RE et al., writing group and panel of expert reviewers: low-energy biphasic waveform defibrillation: evidence-based review applied to emergency cardiovascular care guidelines. Circulation 1998, 97:1654-1667.
8. Allegra J, Lavery R, Cody R, et al.: Magnesium sulfate in the treatment of refractory ventricular fibrillation in the prehospital setting. Resuscitation 2001, 49:245-249. This randomized, double-masked, placebo-controlled trial of magnesium sulfate involving 116 patients in out-of-hospital shock-resistant ventricular fibrillation failed to show any benefit of magnesium sulfate over placebo.
9. Walcott GP, Killingsworth CR, Smith WM, et al.: Biphasic waveform external defibrillation thresholds for spontaneous ventricular fibrillation secondary to acute ischemia. J Am Coll Cardiol 2002, 39:359-365.
10. Tovar OH, Jones JL: Electrophysiological deterioration during long-duration ventricular fibrillation. Circulation 2000, 102:2886-2891.
11. Jones JL, Tovar OH: Electrophysiology of ventricular fibrillation and defibrillation. Crit Care Med 2000, 28(suppl):N219-N221.
12. Gradaus R, Bode-Schnurbus L, Weber M, et al.: Effect of ventricular fibrillation duration on the defibrillation thresholds in humans. Pacing Clin Electrophysiol 2002, 25:14-19.
13. Bardy GH, Marchlinski EF, Sharma AD, et al.: Multicenter comparison of truncated biphasic shock and standard damped sine wave monophasic shocks for transthoracic ventricular fibrillation. Circulation 1996, 94:2507-2514.
14. Schneider T, Martens P, Paschen H, et al.: Multicenter randomized, controlled trial of 150J biphasic shocks compared with 200 to 360 J monophasic shocks in the resuscitation of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest victims. Circulation 2000, 102:1780-1787.
15. Van Alem AP, Vrenken R, Koster RW, et al.: A blinded randomized comparison of biphasic and monophasic waveform defibrillation in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest [abstract]. Eur Heart J 2001, 22(suppl):242. This is an abstract of a recent randomized clinical trial involving 34 patients that showed superior defibrillation success rates with biphasic versus monophasic automatic external defibrillators in the out-of-hospital setting.
16. Kowey PR, Levine JH, Herre JM, et al.: Randomized double blind comparison of intravenous amiodarone and bretylium in the treatment of patients with recurrent hemodynamically destabilizing ventricular tachycardia or fibrillation. Circulation 1995, 92:3255-3263.
17. Nolan JP, Latorre FJ, Steen PA, et al.: Advanced life support drugs: do they really work? Curr Opin Crit Care 2002, 8:212-218. This article provides an excellent recent overview of the current status of the drugs used in advanced cardiac life support.
18. Kudenchuk PJ: Advanced cardiac life support antiarrhythmic drugs. Cardiol Clin 2002, 20:79-87. This is an excellent recent review of the available evidence to support the use of antiarrhythmic medications during CPR.
19. Dorian P, Fain ES, Davy JM, et al.: Lidocaine causes a reversible, concentration dependent increase in defibrillation energy requirements. J Am Coll Cardiol 1986, 8:327-332.
20. Kerber RE, Pandian NG, Jensen SR, et al.: Effect of lidocaine and bretylium on energy requirements for transthoracic defibrillation: experimental studies. J Am Coll Cardiol 1986, 7:397-405.
21. Echt DS, Black JN, Barbey JT, et al.: Elevation of antiarrhythmic drugs on defibrillation energy requirements in dogs: sodium channel block and action potential prolongation. Circulation 1989, 76:1106-1117.
22. MacMahon S, Collins R, Peto R, et al.: Effects of prophylactic lidocaine in suspected acute myocardial infarction. An overview of results from randomized controlled trials. JAMA 1988, 260:1910-1916.
23. Hine LK, Laird N, Hewitt P, et al.: Meta-analytic evidence against prophylactic use of lidocaine in acute myocardial infarction. Arch Intern Med 1989, 149:2694-2698.
24. Weaver WD, Fahrenbruch DCE, Johnson DD, et al.: Effect of epinephrine and lidocaine therapy on outcome after cardiac arrest due to ventricular fibrillation. Circulation 1990, 82:2027-2034.
25. Hassan TB, Jagger C, Barnett DB: A randomized trial to investigate the efficacy of magnesium sulphate for refractory ventricular fibrillation. Emerg Med J 2002, 19:57-62. This recent double-masked, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of magnesium sulfate involving 105 patients in out-of-hospital shock-resistant ventricular fibrillation failed to show any benefit of magnesium sulfate over placebo, a result consistent with those of the previous trials.
26. Nowak RM, Bodnar TJ, Dronen S, et al.: Bretylium tosylate as initial treatment for cardiopulmonary arrest: randomized comparison with placebo. Ann Emerg Med 1981, 10:404-407.
27. Haynes RE, Chinn TL, Copass MK, et al.: Comparison of bretylium and lidocaine in management of out-of-hospital ventricular fibrillation. Am J Cardiol 1981, 48:353-356.
28. Olson DW, Thompson BM, Darin JC, et al.: A randomized comparison study of bretylium tosylate and lidocaine in resuscitation of patients from out-of-hospital ventricular fibrillation in a paramedic system. Ann Emerg Med 1984, 13:807-810.
29. Atkins DL, Dorian P, Gonzalez ER, et al.: Treatment of tachyarrhythmias. Ann Emerg Med 2001, 37:S91-S109. This is a summary of the data presented at the 1999 Evidence Evaluation Conference that formed the basis for the recommendation of the use of antiarrhythmic medications during CPR in the 2000 international guidelines.
30. Stiell IG, Wells CA, Hebert PC, et al.: Association of drug therapy with survival in cardiac arrest. Acad Emerg Med 1995, 2:264-273.
31. Nademanee K, Taylor R, Bailey WE, et al.: Treating electrical storm sympathetic blockade versus advanced cardiac life support guided therapy. Circulation 2000, 102:742-747.
32. Lindner KH, Strohmenger HU, Ensinger H, et al.: Stress hormone response during and after CPR. Anesthesiology 1992, 77:662-668.
33. Wenzel V, Lindner KH: Arginine vasopressin during cardiopulmonary resuscitation: laboratory evidence, clinical experience and recommendations, and a view to the future. Crit Care Med 2002, 30(suppl):S157-S161. This is an overview of the current status of and controversies regarding vasopressin therapy in CPR.
34. Lindner KH, Dirks B, Strohmenger HU, et al.: A randomized comparison of epinephrine and vasopressin in patients with out-of-hospital ventricular fibrillation. Lancet 1997, 349:535-537.
35. Stiell IG, Hebert PC, Wells GA, et al.: Vasopressin versus epinephrine for in hospital cardiac arrest: a randomized controlled trial. Lancet 2001, 358:105-109. This randomized clinical trial involving 104 patients comparing vasopressin and epinephrine in in-hospital cardiac arrest failed to show any survival benefit of vasopressin over epinephrine. The initial rhythm was ventricular fibrillation in only 18% of the patients.
36. Latore F, Nolan J, Robertson C, et al.: European resuscitation Council Guidelines 2000 for adults. Adv Life Support Resuscitation 2001, 48:211-221. This is a summary of the European Resuscitation Council advanced cardiac life support guidelines, updated after the publication of the joint American Heart Association/International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation CPR guidelines 2000.