Timing and Outcomes After Coronary Angiography Following Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Without Signs of ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction

Background: There is broad consensus that re-suscitated out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) should receive immediate coronary angiography (CAG); however, factors that guide patient selection and optimal timing of CAG for post-arrest patients without evidence of STEMI remain incompletely described. Objective: We sought to describe the timing of post-arrest CAG in actual practice, patient characteristics associated with decision to perform immediate vs. delayed CAG, and patient outcomes after CAG. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study at seven U.S. academic hospitals. Resuscitated adult patients with OHCA were included if they presented be-tween January 1, 2015 and December 31, 2019 and received CAG during hospitalization. Emergency medical services run sheets and hospital records were analyzed. Patients without evidence of STEMI were grouped and compared based on time from arrival to CAG performance into "early" ( <= 6 h) and "delayed" (> 6 h). Results: Two hundred twenty-one patients were included. Median time to CAG was 18.6 h (interquartile range [IQR] 1.5-94.6 h). Early catheteri-zation was performed on 94 patients (42.5%) and delayed catheterization was performed on 127 patients (57.5%). Pa-tients in the early group were older (61 years [IQR 55-70 years] vs. 57 years [IQR 47-65] years) and more likely to be male (79.8% vs. 59.8%). Those in the early group were more likely to have clinically significant lesions (58.5% vs. 39.4%) and receive revascularization (41.5% vs. 19.7%). Patients were more likely to die in the early group (47.9% vs. 33.1%). Among survivors, there was no significant difference in neu-rologic recovery at discharge. Conclusions: OHCA patients without evidence of STEMI who received early CAG were older and more likely to be male. This group was more likely to have intervenable lesions and receive revascularization. (c) 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.