A patient is resuscitated from an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and is in your emergency department, comatose, with a pulse.
You know that therapeutic hypothermia is indicated and are happy with the protocol for that. You clinically assess for the underlying cause with history, examination, ECG, and other investigations as indicated.
Someone asks you if you want to give some magnesium “as per the guidelines”. As you are wondering what that’s for someone else asks you how long myocardial stunning lasts for and whether that’s the likely cause of hypotension now.
Luckily you avoid getting annoyed with all these reasonable questions by suddenly remembering that there are international recommendations for the management of ‘Post–Cardiac Arrest Syndrome’. You excuse yourself from the room on the pretext of going to the lavatory and quickly find a quiet area where you scan the following article for help:
Post–Cardiac Arrest Syndrome Epidemiology, Pathophysiology, Treatment, and Prognostication
A Consensus Statement From the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (American Heart Association, Australian and New Zealand Council on Resuscitation, European Resuscitation Council, Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, InterAmerican Heart Foundation, Resuscitation Council of Asia, and the Resuscitation Council of Southern Africa); the American Heart Association Emergency Cardiovascular Care Committee; the Council on Cardiovascular Surgery and Anesthesia; the Council on Cardiopulmonary, Perioperative, and Critical Care; the Council on Clinical Cardiology; and the Stroke Council
Circulation 2008;118;2452-2483 Full Text Article