Therapeutic Hypothermia after Cardiac Arrest: Experience at an Academically Affiliated Community-Based Veterans Affairs Medical Center

Table 2

Comatose survivors of cardiac arrest that were treated with therapeutic hypothermia.

Patient no.	Date of arrest	Age	Mechanism of arrest	Duration pulseless	Time to initiation	Time to 33°C	Time cooled	Lowest temp.	Rewarming time	Comments/CPC at discharge
1	11/22/2007	55	Suicide attempt, hanging	35 mins	3.5 hrs	11 hrs	24 hrs	N/A	16 hrs	At 72 hrs, intact brainstem reflexes but persistent coma, care withdrawn (CPC 5)
2	1/26/2008	83	Unknown	20 mins	—	—	—	—	—	Cooling stopped when goals of care changed after family arrived; died next day (CPC 5)
3	5/2/2008	59	Variceal bleeding, aspiration	20 mins	—	—	—	—	—	Cooling stopped due to coagulopathy and severe GI bleeding; died next day (CPC 5)
4	5/27/2008	85	Aspiration	30 mins	6 hrs	9 hrs	24 hrs	32.1°C	12 hrs	Neurology called late due to concern for coagulopathy; persistent coma at 72 hrs; care withdrawn a week later (CPC 5)
5	7/27/2008	83	Cardiac Arrhythmia	35 mins	2 hrs	6 hrs	23 hrs	31.3°C	24 hrs	Discharged to rehab unit with short-term memory deficits, required assistance with walking (CPC 2); later diagnosed with gastric cancer, deceased 8 months later
6	8/20/2008	61	Pericardial tamponade	N/A	4 hrs	9 hrs	24 hrs	32.4°C	9 hrs	Initially treated in OR for tamponade; at 72 hrs in persistent coma with myoclonic status epilepticus; ethics consult called and care withdrawn (CPC 5)
7	2/21/2009	57	Hyperkalemia, postextubation	N/A	4 hrs	6 hrs	22 hrs	33.0°C	10 hrs	At 72 hr exam, neurologically normal examination; discharged to rehab. unit, still alive and neurologically intact (CPC 1)
8	2/24/2009	85	Possible vagal hyperactivity	5 mins	2.5 hrs	3 hrs	24 hrs	32.3°C	14 hrs	At 72 hrs, awake and alert, neurologically intact aside from mild confusion (CPC 2); had another arrest 3 weeks later and died
9	5/29/2009	59	Pulmonary embolus, sepsis	5 mins	0.5 hrs	4 hrs	5 hrs	N/A	—	Cooling stopped due to persistent hypotension and multiorgan failure; deceased two days later (CPC 5)
10	2/20/2010	78	COPD, aspiration	N/A	5 hrs	9 hrs	24 hrs	30.5°C	22 hrs	At 96 hrs, alert, briskly following commands; remained ventilator dependent, transferred to rehab. unit (CPC 2); died 6 months later
11	8/10/2010	59	Unknown	25 mins	2.5 hrs	17 hrs	24 hrs	32.0°C	4 hrs	Myoclonus while cooled; rewarming occurred quickly and febrile afterwards; despite normal neuroexamination at 72 hrs; discharged to home, still alive (CPC 1)