INDUCED HYPOTHERMIA AFTER CARDIAC ARREST

INTRODUCTION. Sudden cardiac death in adults remains a challenge in cardiovascular medicine. Cardiac arrest often drives neurological damage resulting from cerebral hypoxia, causing a series of cellulose tissue alterations that lead to brain injury. Therapeutic hypothermia decreases oxygen demand acting as protection to the brain. OBJECTIVES. To describe the casuistry of hypothermia after retourn of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) at Bellvitge University Hospital (BUH) from 2009 to 2012. Develop a tracking sheet of the induced hypothermia process. Reflect professional experience of induced hypothermia after cardiac arrest through a case. METHODOLOGY. Retrospective descriptive study of the 54 cases, 45 men and 9 women, aged between ages 57 (15 to 80) years old treated with hypothermia after ROSC at BUH. Analysis of sociodemographic variables, specific variables and description of the inclusion criteria for hypothermia. Design of nursing record to express standardized care to undertake during the HI and its pilot trial. Monitoring a 60 years old patient who suffers cardiopulmonary arrest and is subjected to hypothermia. RESULTS. Leading cause of cardiopulmonary arrest is acute coronary syndrome (ACS) (63%). Most representative initial rhythm is pulseless ventricular tachycardia /ventricular fibrillation (PVT / VF) (68.5%). There is longer survival in patients whose CPR is less than 30 minutes. The target temperature of the patients was 33 degrees C for 24 hours, except for 5 patients who were stopped because of hemodynamic instability. At discharge, 54 % were exitus, 4 % had severe encephalopathy, 11 % mild encephalopathy and 31 % without neurological sequel. The applicability of the nursing record that was created for the HI process was checked, which allowed a fast overview of the procedure. It describes the clinical status of the case on admission, during the HI, at 48 hours, at discharge from the coronary care unit (CCU) and at discharge. DISCUSSION. The data collected between 2009 and 2012 of patients with cardiopulmonary arrest candidates to hypothermia showed a favorable neurological recovery within the surviving patients. Additionally, patients with cardiopulmonary arrest not prolonged have a better prognosis agreeing with ROSC previous studies. CONCLUSIONS. Hypothermia is a viable therapy for patients who have undergone cardiopulmonary arrest. It is important to make a specific assessment of each case as well as agree the track record of care applied to these patients to subsequently allow their assessment.