Relationship between cardiac ultrasound findings during cardiopulmonary resuscitation with the outcome of patients

Objective: Cardiopulmonary arrest is a devastating outcome of some clinical situations and requires strict implementation of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) protocols. Since ultrasound is one of the recommended tools to determine the presence of cardiac movements and may be a predictor of the outcome, this study examined the relationship between echocardiographic findings during CPR with patients’ outcomes. Methods: This cross-sectional prospective observational study was conducted on patients with cardio-respiratory arrest in the emergency department of Shariaty hospital during 2019. sampling method was random. Echocardiography was done at the patient’s bedside during the CPR process in accordance with the last advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) guidelines, on two points, after the end of the second and 10th minutes from the start of CPR. The echocardiography findings (cardiac movement vs standstill) were recorded, and patient outcomes were followed. Thirty-two patients enrolled in this study with a mean age of 56.9±15.3 years. Chi-square and Mann-Whitney U tests were used to calculate the association between heart contractions during resuscitation and the outcomes via SPSS V.22. Fisher’s exact test and Kruskal-Wallis test were used to evaluate the relationship between heart rhythm in the second and tenth minutes with the outcomes of CPR. Results: The presence of cardiac movement in the 10th minute of CPR, in contrast to the findings of the second minute, had a significant correlation with the success rate of CPR and outcomes (P<0.05). Moreover, patients with ventricular tachycardia (VT)/ventricular fibrillation (VF) cardiac rhythm had a better resuscitation rate, 24-hour survival rate, and better outcome than patients with other cardiac rhythms and asystole (P<0.05). Conclusion: Echocardiographic findings in the 10th minute of the CPR process can be used as a prognostic factor for cardiac arrest.