Category: Cardiology
Keywords: Out of hospital cardiac arrest, OHCA, Prehospital airway management (PubMed Search)
Posted: 4/13/2014 by Ali Farzad, MD
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Optimal out of hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) airway management strategies remain unclear. In the US, 80% of OHCA patients receive prehospital airway management, most commonly endotracheal intubation (ETI). There is growing enthusiasm for use of supra-glottic airways (SGA) by EMS because of ease of insertion, and the thought that use of SGA reduces interruptions in chest compressions. More recently, studies have suggested improved survival without the insertion of any advanced airway device at all.
A recent secondary analysis of OHCA outcomes in the Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival (CARES) compared patients receiving endotracheal intubation (ETI) versus supra-glottic airway (SGA), and also patients receiving [ETI or SGA] with those receiving no advanced airway.
Of 10,691 OHCA, 5591 received ETI, 3110 SGA, and 1929 had no advanced airway. Unadjusted neurologically-intact survival was: ETI 5.4%, SGA 5.2%, no advanced airway 18.6%. Compared with SGA, ETI achieved higher sustained ROSC, survival to hospital admission, hospital survival, and hospital discharge with good neurologic outcome. Moreover, compared with [ETI or SGA], patients who received no advanced airway attained higher survival to hospital admission, hospital survival, and hospital discharge with good neurologic outcome.
Conclusion: In CARES, patients receiving no advanced airway exhibited superior outcomes than those receiving ETI or SGA. When an advanced airway was used, ETI was associated with improved outcomes compared to SGA.
McMullan J, Gerecht R, Bonomo J, et al. Airway management and out-of-hospital cardiac arrest outcome in the CARES registry. Resuscitation. 2014;85(5):617–622. doi:10.1016/j.resuscitation.2014.02.007.
