Cardiopulmonary resuscitation after cardiac surgery: A two-year study

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the incidence of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) after cardiac surgery and to find predictors of survival. Design: A retrospective study with data obtained by chart review. Setting: A university hospital 24-bed cardiac surgical intensive care unit (ICU). Participants: Between 1993 and 1994, 4,968 consecutive adult patients who underwent cardiac surgery at the authors' hospital were studied. Interventions: None. Main results: One hundred thirteen of these patients (2.3%) were resuscitated. Seventy-nine patients (70%) survived to be discharged from the hospital. Significant predictors of survival were the time between admission to the ICU and initiation of CPR, CPR time, and creatine kinase (CK) and CK-MB values. Conclusions: The incidence of CPR after cardiac surgery was 2.3% with no difference between valve surgery and CABG. Best results were achieved when arrhythmias or bleeding were the predisposing causes. Further studies have to be undertaken concerning long-term results and quality of life of the discharged patients.