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Cardiac arrest (CA) survivorship is associated with risk of cognitive deficits, emotional and social consequences. Early recognition of these symptoms and referral to rehabilitation is considered to be the fifth link in the chain of survival. This review highlights the need for a national standardized care plan for CA survivors based on a multidisciplinary approach. A patient-tailored law-bound rehabilitation form is essential to proper services in Denmark and should be mandatory. Further research within different rehabilitation areas following CA is warranted to support clinical practice., (Published under Open Access CC-BY-NC-BD 4.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.)

Conducted electrical weapons (CEW) were invented in the 1970s and are now widely used by more than 16,000 military and law enforcement agencies worldwide. Recent studies have sug-gested that a causal relation of cardiac arrest in humans and utilization of CEW may exist and cardiac capture and fatal arrhythmia have been documented in animal studies. We believe, based on current knowledge, that CEW use may have caused human fatalities. Users should be aware of potential serious side effects and be able to provide basic life support.

Guidelines suggest that acute coronary angiography (CAG) is considered in patients resuscitated from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest with presumed cardiac aetiology. Since specialized post-resuscitation care, including therapeutic hypothermia, has proved beneficial in randomized studies, CAG should be offered to patients with a high likelihood of thrombotic coronary lesions, i.e. patients with ST-segment elevation in electrocardiogram (ECG) following resuscitation. This article suggests a triage and referral based on electronic transmission of ECG and teleconference with specialized centres in all patients.

Introduction: There are substantial differences in long-term survival of patients resuscitated from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, and the level of care during hospitalization may be a contributing factor. The purpose of this study was to determine if a difference in long-term prognosis between hospitals could be detected in patients surviving cardiac arrest in Copenhagen., Material and Methods: The mobile emergency care unit attempted resuscitation in 1,098 patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in the period 2002 to 2006, among whom return of spontaneous circulation occurred in 336 (30%) of the patients admitted to hospital. Survival was determined using the Central Population Registry through Statistics Denmark., Results: Patients admitted to a tertiary facility were younger, more frequently male, they had more commonly ventricular fibrillation/pulseless ventricular tachycardia (VF/pVT) as their initial rhythm, and they had more frequently received bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Survival at 4.6 years was 41% in patients admitted to the tertiary hospital and 10% in patients admitted to other hospitals, p < 0.0001. After adjustment for other known risk factors, patients admitted to other hospitals had a hazard ratio of 1.8 for death (95% confidence interval: 1,4-2,5) compared with patients admitted to a tertiary facility., Conclusion: The survival rate after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest was significantly higher in patients admitted to a tertiary facility than among patients admitted to less specialized hospitals. Further studies are needed to identify causal factors.