Patients studied:
(1) 1077 patients at 5 teaching hospitals who received CPR in the hospital
(2) exclusion criteria included: age < 16 years, terminal illness, those who had not received CPR within 15 minutes of collapse, acute trauma, exsanguination, recent sternotomy, arrest in the operating or recovery rooms.
Clinical findings associated with no chance of being discharged alive (0 of 119 patients):
(1) > 10 minutes of resuscitation without a pulse
(2) initial rhythm not ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation
(3) arrest not witnessed
Of those having a pulse by 10 minutes after starting resuscitation, 25% (59 of 232) were discharged.
Of those who did not have a pulse after 10 minutes of resuscitation, but who had ventricular tachycardia or fibrillation as the initial rhythm, 10.5% (28 of 265) were discharged.
Of those who did not have a pulse after 10 minutes of resuscitation and who did not have ventricular tachycardia or fibrillation as the initial rhythm, but who had a witnessed arrest, 3% (15 of 461) were discharged.
