Outcome of cardiopulmonary resuscitation for prehospital traumatic cardiac arrest: focused on Gangwon province

¹Department of Emergency Medicine, Chuncheon Sacred Heart Hospital, Hallym University College of Medicine, Chuncheon, Korea
²Department of Emergency Medicine, Kangwon National University College of Medicine, Chuncheon, Korea
³Department of Emergency Medicine, Yonsei University Wonju College of Medicine, Wonju, Korea
⁴Department of Emergency Medicine, Gangneung Asan Hospital, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Gangneung, Korea
⁵Department of Emergency Medicine, Samcheok Medical Center, Samcheok, Korea
⁶Department of Emergency Medicine, Sokcho Medical Center, Sokcho, Korea

Correspondence

Taehun Lee ,Tel: 033-240-5220, Fax: 033-240-5446, Email: ion2674@naver.com,

Received: July 11, 2019; Revised: October 24, 2019 Accepted: November 14, 2019. Published online: April 30, 2020.

ABSTRACT

Objective:
This aim examined the outcomes of resuscitation and the clinical characteristics of patients with pre-hospital traumatic cardiac arrests (TCA).
Method:
The charts of patients with pre-hospital TCA who visited the various emergency department (ED) in Gangwondo from January 2013 to December 2017 were reviewed retrospectively.
Results:
TCA patients comprised 0.3% of patients transferred by 119. A total of 367 patients were enrolled in the study. Traffic accidents were the leading cause of the arrest. The initial field and ED rhythm were mostly asystole (field, 79.6%; ED, 82.3%). It took 11.24±9.95 minutes from the call to the field. From the field to ED, it took 22.87±15.37 minutes. The total CPR time before ED arrival was 21.62±15.29 minutes. The causes of TCA were brain injury (35.7%), hypovolemic shock (29.2%), and severe lung injury (16.3%). Seventy TCA patients experienced at least one return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC). Twenty-six patients (7.14%) were admitted to the ward, and their average injury severity score was 38.96. Eight patients expired before 12 hours after transient ROSC. Four more patients expired before 24 hours. Four patients were discharged alive among patients who lived for more than 24 hours.
Conclusion:
In this study, 1.5% of patients were discharged alive. The possibility of ROSC was higher as the time to ED, and the cardiopulmonary resuscitation time of 119 was shorter. Pulseless electrical activity rather than asystole tends to promote ROSC. The survival rate increased when ROSC occurred before arriving at the ED.

Key words: Prehospital; Cardiopulmonary resuscitation; Survival rate; Traumatic cardiac arrest