Introduction: We registered 64 patients who reached the emergency department with pain or dyspnoea and we studied the factors that determine the chance of survival from cardiac arrest.
Methods: A retrospective study of 64 patients: 48 men and 16 women with cardiac arrest, 43 out of the hospital and 21 in the emergency department, aged 62±17 years were treated during the period 2002-2012. We registered the first rhythm, the presence of the ambulance when the cardiac arrest occurred out of hospital and the time of reanimation.
Results: The mean time of transport to the hospital by ambulance was 9 minutes. According to the first cardiac rhythm on the monitor 48 patients needed defibrillation (ventricular fibrillation or no pulse tachycardia) and others prolonged CPR.. Only 21 patients had cardiac arrest witnessed in the point of the accident out of the hospital and 49.patients survived but reanimation was unsuccessful for 15 patients. The time of reanimation varies from ten minutes to 3 hours and 25 patients needed intubation.
Conclusions: The two basic modifiable factors that determine the chance of survival from cardiac arrest in the community are: the early beginning of life support from citizens and the rapid ambulance response. More collaboration between the cardiologist and qualified nurses is needed in cardiac arrest in the hospital. The duration and coordination of the reanimation are very important factors because the insistence of the C.P.R granted sometimes survival when it was least expected.