Management of cardiac arrest patients to maximize neurologic outcome

Purpose of review Each year, hundreds of thousands of people will be resuscitated after a cardiac arrest. A significant portion of these patients will lapse into a disease state which is the product of modern emergency and critical care medicine: the postcardiac arrest syndrome. The ability to return a patient to his or her prior state of health after cardiac arrest, once completely beyond the capacities of clinicians, is now one of the most important areas of medical science. Much of this ability depends on preserving the nervous system from a complicated sequence of secondary injuries, which ensue from global ischemia. Recent findings The International Liaison Committee On Resuscitation has recently given new direction to the care of patients after cardiac arrest by addressing the variety of medical problems encountered after resuscitation as a single postcardiac arrest syndrome. This paradigm centers on supportive care to optimize neurological outcomes and especially focuses on therapeutic hypothermia. Summary This study reviews the latest advances in treating patients after cardiac arrest in the emergency department and critical care unit environments.