Ultrasonography is useful for the diagnosis of IPFA with acute abdominal pain or blunt trauma, except in patients with gastrointestinal perforation without IPFA.

Context:The spectrum of the etiology of out-of-hospital cardiopulmonary arrest (OHCPA) has not been established. We have performed perimortem computed tomography (CT) during cardiopulmonary resuscitation.Aims:To clarify the incidence of non-cardiac etiology (NCE), actual distribution of the causes of OHCPA via perimortem CT and its usefulness.Settings and Design:Population-based observational case series study.Materials and Methods:We reviewed the medical records of 1846 consecutive OHCPA cases and divided them into two groups: 370 showing an obvious cause of OHCPA with NCE (trauma, neck hanging, terminal stage of malignancy, and gastrointestinal bleeding) and others.Results:Of a total OHCPA, perimortem CT was performed in 57.5% and 62.5% were finally diagnosed as NCE: Acute aortic dissection (AAD) 8.07%, pulmonary thrombo-embolization (PTE) 1.46%, hypoxia due to pneumonia 5.25%, asthma and acute worsening of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease 2.06%, cerebrovascular disorder (CVD) 4.48%, airway obstruction 7.64%, and submersion 5.63%. The rates of patients who survived to hospital discharge were 6-14% in patients with NCE. Out of the 1476 cases excluding obvious NCE of OHCPA, 66.3% underwent perimortem CT, 14.6% of cases without obvious NCE and 22.1% of cases with perimortem CT were confirmed as having some NCE.Conclusions:Of the total OHCPA the incidences of NCE was 62.5%; the leading etiologies were AAD, airway obstruction, submersion, hypoxia and CVD. The rates of cases converted from cardiac etiology to NCE using perimortem CT were 14.6% of cases without an obvious NCE.

In BT-CPA patients, a 20-min resuscitation effort and termination of the effort are thought to be relevant. The initial rhythm is not a prognostic indicator. We believe that the decision on whether to undertake aggressive resuscitation efforts should be made on a case-by-case basis.

Background Although nifekalant is a class III antiarrhythmic agent without negative inotropic activity, its effect in patients with shock-refractory ventricular fibrillation remains unclear. Methods and ResultsPatients who had an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest with ventricular fibrillation that persisted after 3 shocks from an external defibrillator, intravenous epinephrine, and another shock were retrospectively studied. The patients received lidocaine from January 1997 through June 2001 and nifekalant from July 2001 through December 2004. Short-term survival rates (survival to hospital admission and 24-h survival) were compared between the groups. The study group comprised 120 patients (mean age: 62±16 years): 55 received nifekalant and 65 received lidocaine. Age, sex, history of ischemic heart disease, whether arrest was witnessed or not and time to arrival at the hospital did not differ significantly between the groups. As compared with lidocaine, nifekalant was associated with significantly higher rates of survival to hospital admission (67% vs 37%, p<0.001) and 24-h survival (53% vs 31%, p=0.01). Multivariate analysis showed that treatment with nifekalant and early initiation of cardiopulmonary resuscitation were independent predictors of 24-h survival. Conclusions As compared with lidocaine, nifekalant may improve short-term survival in patients with out-ofhospital cardiac arrest due to shock-refractory ventricular fibrillation. (Circ J 2006; 70: 442 -446)