Kyu-Nam Park

Therapeutic hypothermia in adult cardiac arrest because of drowning.

Therapeutic hypothermia in adult victims who suffer cardiac arrest following drowning has been applied in only a small number of cases. In the last 4 years, we have employed therapeutic hypothermia to decrease hypoxia‐induced brain injury in these patients. The purpose of the present study was to report the results of the treatment of these patients.

Outcomes of hanging-induced cardiac arrest patients who underwent therapeutic hypothermia: a multicenter retrospective cohort study.

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to analyze the outcomes of patients with hanging-induced cardiac arrest who underwent therapeutic hypothermia (TH). METHOD In this multicenter, retrospective registry-based study, discharged patients after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and treatment with TH were enrolled between June 2007 and March 2013. Several prehospital and hospital variables were examined for an outcome analysis with multivariable logistic regression. RESULTS A total of 964 patients who had cardiac arrest were enrolled in this study. All patients underwent TH during post-cardiac arrest care after return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC). Of all patients, 105 were assigned to the hanging group and 859 to the non-hanging group. Six patients (6%) with good neurologic outcomes (Cerebral Performance Category 1 or 2) in the hanging group at the time of discharge were found. A shorter time interval between witnessed arrest and ROSC and a Glasgow Coma Scale over 4 after ROSC are statistically significant variables of good neurologic outcomes after hanging-induced cardiac arrest treated with TH. CONCLUSION A small number of patients who underwent TH after a hanging-induced cardiac arrest provided good neurologic outcomes, and some variables influenced these outcomes.

Use of cold intravenous fluid to induce hypothermia in a comatose child after cardiac arrest due to a lightning strike

We report a case in which mild hypothermia was induced successfully using a cold intravenous fluid infusion in a 12-year-old boy who was comatose following 21 min of cardiac arrest caused by a lightning strike.

Use of S-100B, NSE, CRP and ESR to predict neurological outcomes in patients with return of spontaneous circulation and treated with hypothermia

Background With the introduction of therapeutic hypothermia (TH), the prediction of neurological outcomes in cardiac arrest (CA) survivors is challenging. Early, accurate determination of prognosis by emergency physicians is important to avoid unnecessarily prolonged critical care with a likely poor neurological outcome. Methods This prospective observational study included patients with non-traumatic CA and return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) between March 2009 and May 2012 at a tertiary academic hospital. Unconscious patients with ROSC were treated with mild TH (32°C–34°C) for 24 hours. Blood samples were collected for S-100B, neuron-specific enolase (NSE), C-reactive protein (CRP) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) at 0, 24 and 48 hours post-ROSC. Neurological outcomes were evaluated at hospital discharge and dichotomised as good (cerebral performance category (CPC) 1 or 2) or poor (CPC 3, 4 or 5). Results Of the 119 patients (68.1% male, 53±15.6 years old) who underwent TH, 46 patients had a good outcome (38.9%). Poor neurological outcomes were predicted using receiver operating characteristic analyses at cut-off values of 0.12 g/L for S-100B at 24 hours post-ROSC (sensitivity, 95.0%; specificity, 75.6%; area under the curve (AUC) 0.916; 95% CI of AUC: 0.846 to 0.961), 31.03 ng/mL for NSE at 48 hours post-ROSC (sensitivity, 83.9%; specificity, 96.9%; AUC 0.929; 95% CI of AUC: 0.836 to 0.979) and 11.2 mg/dL for CRP at 48 hours post-ROSC (sensitivity, 69.4%; specificity, 75.0%; AUC 0.731; 95% CI of AUC: 0.617 to 0.827). ESR was not significant. Conclusions Among the biomarkers, S-100B at 24 hours and NSE at 48 hours post-ROSC were highly predictive of neurological outcomes in patients treated with TH after CA.

Clinical features of emergency department patients with depression who had attempted to commit suicide by poisoning

Background: Many patients present to the emergency department (ED) complaining of intentional poisoning. Of those, some have major depressive disorder (MDD) in their medical history. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of MDD patients who were treated for poisoning in the ED. Materials and Methods: A retrospective review was performed on 268 patients who were treated with poisoning between July 2007 and November 2011. Of these patients, we only included those who were over 18 years of age. Information regarding age, gender, cause, time of ingestion, type of drug, history of attempting suicide, and outcome, among other characteristics, was collected and compared to patients who did not have MDD. Results: A total of 244 patients were included in this study. Of those, 52 patients (21.3%) had a history of MDD. Compared to non-MDD patients, a majority (34.6% vs. 19.8%) of those in the MDD group had a history of suicide attempts (P = 0.027), and 34 (65.4% in the MDD group vs. 34.4% in the non-MDD group) took more than two types of drugs (P < 0.001). There were no differences in age, sex, time of ingestion or disease severity between MDD and non-MDD patients. Conclusion: In poisoning patients with MDD, physicians in the ED must consider that they have a higher tendency to show suicidal behavior and to have ingested multiple types of drugs.