July 19, 2018

Adrenaline for cardiac arrests – helpful or harmful (or both)?

A roundup accompanied this briefing.

When someone’s heart stops and paramedics arrive, they are given CPR and shocks from a defibrillator.  If they are still not responding, adrenaline is given as a last resort to increase blood flow to the heart.

But some observational studies have previously reported associations between adrenaline use and poorer outcomes, and there is no strong evidence from trials about the benefits and risks of adrenaline when given in patients having a cardiac arrest.

To find out more, a team based at the University of Warwick’s Clinical Trials Unit and funded by the NIHR have carried out a randomised controlled trial involving several National Health Service Ambulance Trusts in the UK to measure the impact of paramedics giving adrenaline to patients whose hearts have stopped.  Their results are now being published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Speakers:

Prof Gavin Perkins, Professor of Critical Care Medicine, and Director of Warwick Clinical Trials Unit, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick

Prof Jerry Nolan, Consultant in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine, Royal United Hospital, Bath, and Honorary Professor of Resuscitation Medicine, University of Bristol

Dr Anne-Marie Slowther, Reader in Clinical Ethics, Warwick Medical School