Cardiac arrest survivors with cardiomyopathy benefit from therapeutic hypothermia, according to new research.
Scientists out of Minneapolis analyzed data from 192 cardiac arrest patients who were unresponsive after return of spontaneous circulation in therapeutic hypothermia. The researchers believed that most of the people in this group would have had preexisting cardiomyopathy, and that therapeutic hypothermia would be helpful at a rate similar to that of non-cardiomyopathy patients.
Results showed that the benefits of therapeutic hypothermia were similar in those with preexisting cardiomyopathy to those without the condition.
EurekAlert quotes Michael R. Mooney of the Minneapolis Heart Institute, lead author of the study, as saying, "While it is well established that therapeutic hypothermia is neuroprotective and increases survival in resuscitated cardiac arrest patients without cardiomyopathy, we sought to determine whether catastrophic outcomes in cardiac arrest patients with preexisting cardiomyopathy are avoidable.”
He added that it was “alarming” how many of the patients in the study had preexisting heart dysfunction.
“We need to employ a more careful surveillance and improve our adherence to the clinical guidelines,” EurekAlert quoted Mooney as saying. “Less than 50 percent of patients who currently qualify for automatic implantable cardioverter-defibrillators actually receive them.”
The research seems to suggest that patients with preexisting heart conditions receive therapeutic hypothermia.
The research was presented at the American Heart Association (AHA) scientific sessions in Orlando.
