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Background: Despite ongoing efforts to improve the quality of pediatric resuscitation, it remains unknown whether survival in children with in-hospital cardiac arrest has improved.Methods and Results: Between 2000 and 2009, we identified children (<18 years of age) with an in-hospital cardiac arrest at hospitals with >3 years of participation and >5 cases annually within the national Get With The Guidelines-Resuscitation registry. Multivariable logistic regression was used to examine temporal trends in survival to discharge. We also explored whether trends in survival were attributable to improvement in acute resuscitation or postresuscitation care and examined trends in neurological disability among survivors. Among 1031 children at 12 hospitals, the initial cardiac arrest rhythm was asystole and pulseless electrical activity in 874 children (84.8%) and ventricular fibrillation and pulseless ventricular tachycardia in 157 children (15.2%), with an increase in cardiac arrests due to pulseless electrical activity over time (P for trend <0.001). Risk-adjusted rates of survival to discharge increased from 14.3% in 2000 to 43.4% in 2009 (adjusted rate ratio per year, 1.08; 95% confidence interval, 1.01-1.16; P for trend=0.02). Improvement in survival was driven largely by an improvement in acute resuscitation survival (risk-adjusted rates: 42.9% in 2000, 81.2% in 2009; adjusted rate ratio per year: 1.04; 95% confidence interval, 1.01-1.08; P for trend=0.006). Moreover, survival trends were not accompanied by higher rates of neurological disability among survivors over time (unadjusted P for trend=0.32), suggesting an overall increase in the number of survivors without neurological disability over time.Conclusions: Rates of survival to hospital discharge in children with in-hospital cardiac arrests have improved over the past decade without higher rates of neurological disability among survivors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Hyperventilation during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is harmful. METHODS: We tested the hypotheses that, during CPR, 2 breaths/min would result in higher cerebral perfusion pressure and brain-tissue oxygen tension than 10 breaths/min, and an impedance threshold device (known to increase circulation) would further enhance cerebral perfusion and brain-tissue oxygen tension, especially with 2 breaths/min. RESULTS: Female pigs (30.4 +/- 1.3 kg) anesthetized with propofol were subjected to 6 min of untreated ventricular fibrillation, followed by 5 min of CPR (100 compressions/min, compression depth of 25% of the anterior-posterior chest diameter), and ventilated with either 10 breaths/min or 2 breaths/min, while receiving 100% oxygen and a tidal volume of 12 mL/kg. Brain-tissue oxygen tension was measured with a probe in the parietal lobe. The impedance threshold device was then used during an 5 additional min of CPR. During CPR the mean +/- SD calculated coronary and cerebral perfusion pressures with 10 breaths/min versus 2 breaths/min, respectively, were 17.6 +/- 9.3 mm Hg versus 14.3 +/- 6.5 mm Hg (p = 0.20) and 16.0 +/- 9.5 mm Hg versus 9.3 +/- 12.5 mm Hg (p = 0.25). Carotid artery blood flow, which was prospectively designated as the primary end point, was 65.0 +/- 49.6 mL/min in the 10-breaths/min group, versus 34.0 +/- 17.1 mL/min in the 2-breaths/min group (p = 0.037). Brain-tissue oxygen tension was 3.0 +/- 3.3 mm Hg in the 10-breaths/min group, versus 0.5 +/- 0.5 mm Hg in the 2-breaths/min group (p = 0.036). After 5 min of CPR there were no significant differences in arterial pH, P(O(2)), or P(CO(2)) between the groups. During CPR with the impedance threshold device, the mean carotid blood flow and brain-tissue oxygen tension in the 10-breaths/min group and the 2-breaths/min group, respectively, were 102.5 +/- 67.9 mm Hg versus 38.8 +/- 23.7 mm Hg (p = 0.006) and 4.5 +/- 6.0 mm Hg versus 0.7 +/- 0.7 mm Hg (p = 0.032). CONCLUSIONS: Contrary to our initial hypothesis, during the first 5 min of CPR, 2 breaths/min resulted in significantly lower carotid blood flow and brain-tissue oxygen tension than did 10 breaths/min. Subsequent addition of an impedance threshold device significantly enhanced carotid flow and brain-tissue oxygen tension, especially in the 10-breaths/min group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Age is an important determinant of outcome from adult cardiac arrests but has not been identified previously as an important factor in pediatric cardiac arrests except among premature infants. Chest compressions can result in more effective blood flow during cardiac arrest in an infant than an older child or adult because of increased chest wall compliance. We, therefore, hypothesized that survival from cardiac arrest would be better among infants than older children. METHODS: We evaluated 464 pediatric ICU arrests from the National Registry of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation from 2000 to 2002. NICU cardiac arrests were excluded. Data from each arrest include >200 variables describing facility, patient, prearrest, arrest intervention, outcome, and quality improvement data. Age was categorized as newborn (<1 month; N = 62), infant (1 month to <1 year; N = 105), younger child (1 year to <8 years; N = 90), and older child (8 years to <21 years; N = 207). Multivariable logistic regression was performed to examine the association between age and survival. RESULTS: Overall survival was 22%, with 27% of newborns, 36% of infants, 19% of younger children and 16% of older children surviving to hospital discharge. Newborns and infants demonstrated double and triple the odds of surviving to hospital discharge from a cardiac arrest in an intensive care setting when compared with older children. When potential confounders were controlled, newborns increased their advantage to almost fivefold, while infants maintained their survival advantage to older children. CONCLUSIONS: Survival from pediatric ICU cardiac arrest is age dependent. Newborns and infants have better survival rates even after adjusting for potential confounding variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: We aimed to (1) determine the association between cumulative PaO 2 and PaCO 2 exposure 24 h post-return of circulation and survival with favorable neurologic outcome. And (2) to assess adherence to American Heart Association post-cardiac arrest care treatment goals (PaO 2 75-100 mmHg and PaCO 2 35-45 mmHg)., Design and Setting: Prospectively collected data were analysed from five Pediatric Resuscitation Quality collaborative sites supplemented with retrospective PaO 2 and PaCO 2 data., Patients: Children aged 1 day-17 years with return of circulation after cardiac arrest, admitted 2019-2022, with ≥ 4 arterial blood gasses spanning at least 12 h within 24 h post-return of ciculation, were eligible. Congenital cyanotic heart disease events were excluded., Measurements: Area under the curve calculation provided hourly cumulative PaO 2 and PaCO 2 exposures per child and similarly guideline recommended cumulative ranges. The primary outcome was survival to hospital discharge with favorable neurologic outcome defined as a Pediatric Cerebral Performance Category 1-3, or no pre-arrest baseline difference., Main Results: Among 292 included children (median age 2.6 years (IQR 0.4-10.9)), 57 % survived to discharge and 48 % had favorable neurologic outcome (88 % of survivors). Cumulative PaO 2 and PaCO 2 exposure 0-24 h post-return of circulation were not significantly associated with favorable neurologic outcome in multivariable analysis (OR 1.0, 95 %CI 0.98-1.02 and OR 0.97, 95 %CI 0.87-1.09 respectively). Cumulative PaO 2 and PaCO 2 remained within guideline recommended ranges for 24 % and 58 % of children respectively with median areas under the curve over 0 - 24 h of 2664 mmHg (2151 - 3249 mmHg) for PaO 2 and 948 mmHg (853 - 1051 mmHg) for PaCO 2 . AHA post-cardiac arrest care guideline recommendations for PaO 2 (1800-2400 mmHg) and PaCO 2 (840-1080 mmHg) were recalculated as area under the curve ranges. Achieving both normoxia and normocapnia was observed in 12 % of children., Conclusions: Cumulative PaO 2 and PaCO 2 exposure in the first 24 h post-return of circulation was not associated with survival with favorable neurologic outcome. Pediatric AHA post-cardiac arrest care guideline normoxia and normocapnia goals were often not met. Larger cohort studies are necessary to improve the accuracy of cumulative exposure calculations, assess the long-term effects of PaO 2 and PaCO 2 exposure, and explore the influence of other post-cardiac arrest care therapeutic strategies., Competing Interests: The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: [Marijn Albrecht reports a relationship with ZOLL Medical Corporation that includes: funding grants. Vinay Nadkarni MD receives unrestricted grant funding to his institution from the National Institutes of Health, US Department of Defense, ZOLL Medical, Laerdal Foundation, RQI Partners, Philips Medical, and Nihon-Kohden. All are unrelated to this study. He serves as Editorial Board Member for Resuscitation and Pediatric Critical Care Medicine and was not involved in the editorial review or the decision to publish this article. Lastly, he serves on the Executive Committee for the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM). The views expressed as an author in this manuscript are his, and are not intended to represent the views of the SCCM. Dana Niles was an employee of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia at the time of data collection and analysis and is currently an employee of Philips Medical. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper]., (© 2024 The Author(s).)

Background: Resuscitation with chest compressions and positive pressure ventilation in Bidirectional Glenn (BDG) or Fontan physiology may compromise passive venous return and accentuate neurologic injury. We hypothesized that arterial pressure and survival would be better in BDG than Fontan patients., Methods: Secondary analyses of the Pediatric Intensive Care Quality of CPR and Improving Outcomes from Pediatric Cardiac Arrest databases. P-values were considered significant if < 0.05., Results: In total, 64 patients had either BDG (42/64, 66%) or Fontan (22/64, 34%) anatomy. Return of spontaneous circulation was achieved in 76% of BDG patients versus 59% of Fontan patients and survival with favorable neurologic outcome in 22/42 (52%) BDG versus 6/22 (27%) Fontan patients, p = 0.067. Twelve of 24 (50%) BDG and 2/7 (29%) Fontan patients who survived to discharge suffered new morbidity as defined by worsening Functional Status Score. More BDG patients achieved adequate DBP (≥25 mmHg for neonates and infants; ≥ 30 mmHg for children) than Fontan patients (21/23 (91%) vs. 5/11 (46%), p = 0.007)., Conclusions: Only 27% of Fontan patients survived to hospital discharge with favorable neurologic outcome after CPR, likely driven by inadequate diastolic blood pressure during resuscitation. One half of the BDG patients who survived to hospital discharge had new neurologic morbidity., Background: Cardiac arrest in patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) may present challenges to resuscitation based on the unique cardiovascular physiology resulting from surgical palliation. Recent resuscitation guidelines for CHD patients highlight the lack of data surrounding these special patient populations. 1 Univentricular heart disease is palliated by a series of cardiac surgeries that stepwise result in passive pulmonary perfusion from the systemic venous system directly to the pulmonary vascular bed. The bidirectional Glenn (BDG) palliation directly anastomoses the superior vena cava (SVC) to the pulmonary arterial system and leaves normal inferior vena cava (IVC) venous return to the heart. 2 The Fontan palliation baffles IVC flow directly to the pulmonary vascular bed which relieves cyanosis due to right to left shunting, but requires systemic ventricular preload to be directly dependent upon pulmonary vascular resistance and intrathoracic pressures. 3 IMPACT STATEMENT: Hemodynamic waveforms from 2 large prospective observational studies now allow for exploration of physiology during cardiopulmonary resuscitation for unique anatomy associated with single ventricle congenital heart disease. Fewer patients with Fontan physiology (46%) achieved an adequate diastolic blood pressure (defined as ≥ 25 mmHg for neonates and infants and ≥ 30 mmHg for children) than bidirectional Glenn patients during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (91%, p = 0.007). Only 27% of Fontan patients survived to hospital discharge with favorable neurologic outcome after cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Of the bidirectional Glenn patients who survived, 50% developed a new morbidity as quantified by the Functional Status Score., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Importance: Patients with underlying cardiac disease form a considerable proportion of pediatric patients who experience in-hospital cardiac arrest. In pediatric patients after cardiac surgery, CPR with abdominal compressions alone (AC-CPR) may provide an alternative to standard chest compression CPR (S-CPR) with additional procedural and physiologic advantages., Objective: Quantitatively describe hemodynamics during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and outcomes of infants who received only abdominal compressions (AC-CPR)., Design: This is a sub-group analysis of the prospective, observational cohort from the ICU-RESUS trial NCT028374497., Setting & Patients: A single site quaternary care pediatric cardiothoracic intensive care unit enrolled in the ICU-RESUS trial. Patients less than 1 year of age with congenital heart disease who required compressions during cardiac arrest., Interventions: Use of AC-CPR during cardiac arrest resuscitation., Measurements and Main Results: Invasive arterial line waveforms during CPR were analyzed for 11 patients (10 surgical cardiac and 1 medical cardiac). Median weight was 3.3 kg [IQR 3.0, 4.0]; and median duration of CPR was 5.0 [3.0, 20.0] minutes. Systolic (median 57 [IQR 48, 65] mmHg) and diastolic (median 32 [IQR 24, 43] mmHg) blood pressures were achieved with a median rate of 114 [IQR 100, 124] compressions per minute. Return of spontaneous circulation was obtained in 9 of 11 (82%) patients; 2 patients (18%) were cannulated for extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (ECPR) and 6 (55%) survived to hospital discharge with favorable neurologic outcome., Conclusions: AC-CPR may offer an alternative method to maintain perfusion for infants who experience cardiac arrest. This may have particular benefit in pediatric patients after cardiac surgery for whom external chest compressions may be harmful due to anatomic and physiologic considerations., Competing Interests: The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Richard P. Fernandez, MD reports financial support, administrative support, and statistical analysis were provided by National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024 The Authors.)

Objective: Quantify hypotension burden using high-resolution continuous arterial blood pressure (ABP) data and determine its association with outcome after pediatric cardiac arrest., Design: Retrospective observational study., Setting: Academic PICU., Patients: Children 18 years old or younger admitted with in-of-hospital or out-of-hospital cardiac arrest who had invasive ABP monitoring during postcardiac arrest care., Interventions: None., Measurements and Main Results: High-resolution continuous ABP was analyzed up to 24 hours after the return of circulation (ROC). Hypotension burden was the time-normalized integral area between mean arterial pressure (MAP) and fifth percentile MAP for age. The primary outcome was unfavorable neurologic status (pediatric cerebral performance category ≥ 3 with change from baseline) at hospital discharge. Mann-Whitney U tests compared hypotension burden, duration, and magnitude between favorable and unfavorable patients. Multivariable logistic regression determined the association of unfavorable outcomes with hypotension burden, duration, and magnitude at various percentile thresholds from the 5th through 50th percentile for age. Of 140 patients (median age 53 [interquartile range 11-146] mo, 61% male); 63% had unfavorable outcomes. Monitoring duration was 21 (7-24) hours. Using a MAP threshold at the fifth percentile for age, the median hypotension burden was 0.01 (0-0.11) mm Hg-hours per hour, greater for patients with unfavorable compared with favorable outcomes (0 [0-0.02] vs. 0.02 [0-0.27] mm Hg-hr per hour, p < 0.001). Hypotension duration and magnitude were greater for unfavorable compared with favorable patients (0.03 [0-0.77] vs. 0.71 [0-5.01]%, p = 0.003; and 0.16 [0-1.99] vs. 2 [0-4.02] mm Hg, p = 0.001). On logistic regression, a 1-point increase in hypotension burden below the fifth percentile for age (equivalent to 1 mm Hg-hr of burden per hour of recording) was associated with increased odds of unfavorable outcome (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 14.8; 95% CI, 1.1-200; p = 0.040). At MAP thresholds of 10th-50th percentiles for age, MAP burden below the threshold was greater in unfavorable compared with favorable patients in a dose-dependent manner., Conclusions: High-resolution continuous ABP data can be used to quantify hypotension burden after pediatric cardiac arrest. The burden, duration, and magnitude of hypotension are associated with unfavorable neurologic outcomes., Competing Interests: Dr. Nadkarni is the president of the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) 2023. This work is not intended to reflect the views of SCCM. Dr. Morgan receives research support from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) (K23HL148541). Dr. Kirschen receives research support from the NIH to his institution (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke K23NS116120), Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Resuscitation Science Center. Mr. Burnett disclosed work for hire. Dr. Sutton’s institution received funding from the NHLBI. The remaining authors have disclosed that they do not have any potential conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2024 by the Society of Critical Care Medicine and Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

Objectives: Data to support epinephrine dosing intervals during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) are conflicting. The objective of this study was to evaluate the association between epinephrine dosing intervals and outcomes. We hypothesized that dosing intervals less than 3 minutes would be associated with improved neurologic survival compared with greater than or equal to 3 minutes., Design: This study is a secondary analysis of The ICU-RESUScitation Project (NCT028374497), a multicenter trial of a quality improvement bundle of physiology-directed CPR training and post-cardiac arrest debriefing., Setting: Eighteen PICUs and pediatric cardiac ICUs in the United States., Patients: Subjects were 18 years young or younger and 37 weeks old or older corrected gestational age who had an index cardiac arrest. Patients who received less than two doses of epinephrine, received extracorporeal CPR, or had dosing intervals greater than 8 minutes were excluded., Interventions: The primary exposure was an epinephrine dosing interval of less than 3 vs. greater than or equal to 3 minutes., Measurements and Main Results: The primary outcome was survival to discharge with a favorable neurologic outcome defined as a Pediatric Cerebral Performance Category score of 1-2 or no change from baseline. Regression models evaluated the association between dosing intervals and: 1) survival outcomes and 2) CPR duration. Among 382 patients meeting inclusion and exclusion criteria, median age was 0.9 years (interquartile range 0.3-7.6 yr) and 45% were female. After adjustment for confounders, dosing intervals less than 3 minutes were not associated with survival with favorable neurologic outcome (adjusted relative risk [aRR], 1.10; 95% CI, 0.84-1.46; p = 0.48) but were associated with improved sustained return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) (aRR, 1.21; 95% CI, 1.07-1.37; p < 0.01) and shorter CPR duration (adjusted effect estimate, -9.5 min; 95% CI, -14.4 to -4.84 min; p < 0.01)., Conclusions: In patients receiving at least two doses of epinephrine, dosing intervals less than 3 minutes were not associated with neurologic outcome but were associated with sustained ROSC and shorter CPR duration., Competing Interests: Drs. Kienzle, Berg, Morgan, Reeder, Carcillo, Carpenter, Hall, Horvat, Franzon, Frazier, Friess, Maa, Manga, McQuillen, Meert, Mourani, Naim, Pollack, Sapru, Schnieter, Wolfe, and Sutton received National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant funding to their institution related to this project. Dr. Kienzle disclosed the study was supported by the NIH Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD; U01HD049934, UG1HD049981, UG1HD049983, UG1HD050096, UG1HD063108, UG1HD083166, UG1HD083170, and UG1HD083171) and National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI; R01HL131544 and K23HL148541) and by the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute Resuscitation Science Center. Dr. Berg reports membership on Data Safety Monitoring Boards. Dr. Carcillo received funding from the NICHD and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. Dr. Diddle received funding from Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Friess received funding for expert testimony. Drs. Berg’s and Maa’s institutions received funding from the NHLBI. Drs. Berg, Carpenter, Horvat, and McQuillen institutions received funding from the NICHD. Drs. Morgan and Sutton report volunteer leadership roles with the American Heart Association. Dr. Morgan’s institution received funding from the NHLBI (K23HL148541). Dr. Hall received funding from the American Board of Pediatrics, AbbVie, Kiadis, Partner Therapeutics, and Sobi. Dr. Nadkarni receives unrestricted research grants to his institution from the NIH, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Department of Defense, Zoll Medical, Nihon Kohden, Resuscitation Quality Improvement Partners, American Heart Association, and Laerdal Foundation. He serves as the president of the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM). The views expressed are his, and not intended to represent the views of the SCCM. Dr. Wolfe received funding for speaking fees. The remaining authors have disclosed that they do not have any potential conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2024 by the Society of Critical Care Medicine and Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)