Prevalence and Patterns of Resuscitation‐Associated Injury Detected by Head‐to‐Pelvis Computed Tomography After Successful Out‐of‐Hospital Cardiac Arrest Resuscitation

BACKGROUND: Patients resuscitated from out‐of‐hospital circulatory arrest (OHCA) frequently have cardiopulmonary resuscitation injuries identifiable by computed tomography, although the prevalence, types of injury, and effects on clinical outcomes are poorly characterized. METHODS AND RESULTS: We assessed the prevalence of resuscitation‐associated injuries in a prospective, observational study of a head‐to‐pelvis sudden‐death computed tomography scan within 6 hours of successful OHCA resuscitation. Primary outcomes included total injuries and time‐critical injuries (such as organ laceration). Exploratory outcomes were injury associations with mechanical cardiopulmonary resuscitation and survival to discharge. Among 104 patients with OHCA (age 56±15 years, 30% women), 58% had bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and total cardiopulmonary resuscitation time was 15±11 minutes. The prevalence of resuscitation‐associated injury was high (81%), including 15 patients (14%) with time‐critical findings. Patients with resuscitation injury were older (58±15 versus 46±13 years; P<0.001), but had otherwise similar baseline characteristics and survival compared with those without. Mechanical chest compression systems (27%) had more frequent sternal fractures (36% versus 12%; P=0.009), including displaced fractures (18% versus 1%; P=0.005), but no difference in survival (46% versus 41%; P=0.66). CONCLUSIONS: In patients resuscitated from OHCA, head‐to‐pelvis sudden‐death computed tomography identified resuscitation injuries in most patients, with nearly 1 in 7 with time‐critical complications, and one‐half with extensive rib‐cage injuries. These data suggest that sudden‐death computed tomography may have additional diagnostic utility and treatment implications beyond evaluating causes of OHCA. These important findings need to also be taken in context of the certain fatal outcome without resuscitation efforts. REGISTRATION: URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov; Unique identifier: NCT03111043.