Cardiac arrest is defined by a triad of derangements:
Pulselessness
Apnea
Unresponsiveness
This state leads to progressive tissue ischemia and organ dysfunction, which, if not rapidly corrected, can result in irreversible deterioration of cardiac and neurologic function.
Cardiac arrest occurs in 2% to 6% of pediatric patients who are admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit.
Cardiac arrest occurs in approximately 16,000 children out of hospital in the United States each year.
Because of the relative infrequency of out-of-hospital events, pediatric resuscitations are not common for providers outside of the pediatric intensive care unit.
There continues to be a significant difference in outcomes (e.g., favorable vs. nonfavorable) between patients with in-hospital vs. out-of-hospital events.
In general, the cause of cardiac arrest falls into one of three categories:
Asphyxia
Ischemia
Arrhythmia
Adults with cardiac arrest often have sudden, unexpected ventricular fibrillation and often have underlying coronary artery disease, which leads to myocardial ischemia.
In contrast, pediatric cardiac arrest is rarely caused by a sudden coronary event or arrhythmia.
Cardiac arrest in children is most often caused by progressive asphyxia from acute hypoxia or hypercarbia, which leads to acidosis and nutrient depletion.
Ischemic events are the second most common etiology in pediatrics.
Ischemic events occur secondary to inadequate myocardial oxygen delivery, which in children occurs most commonly in the setting of sepsis, hypovolemia, or myocardial dysfunction.
Arrhythmias account for the smallest number of cardiac arrest events in pediatric patients, comprising only 10% of events.
Cardiac arrest can be broken down into four phases:
Prearrest
No flow (untreated cardiac arrest)
Low flow (cardiopulmonary resuscitation [CPR])
Postresuscitation
Pediatric patients with in-hospital cardiac arrest may have physiologic changes in the hours leading up to their arrest.
Because the majority of pediatric cardiac arrests occur secondary to progressive asphyxia or ischemia, recognition and treatment of respiratory failure and shock states may prevent a number of arrest events from occurring.
The Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) course was designed to reduce the number of cardiac arrests by improving the early recognition of these conditions.
Care during this phase should focus on:
Identifying and treating reversible conditions
Optimizing patient monitoring
Providing rapid emergency response for patients not already in a health care setting
During untreated cardiac arrest, circulation has stopped.
Responders to cardiac arrest should minimize time in this state in order to optimize patient outcomes.
Interventions should focus on the initiation of Basic and Advanced Life Support techniques.
The low-flow phase begins with the initiation of resuscitation measures (chest compressions).
Effective CPR improves coronary perfusion pressure and provides cardiac output to support organ viability.
Even with optimal CPR, cardiac output is only 10% to 25% of normal. Basic Life Support (BLS) and PALS guidelines should be followed during the resuscitation phase.
Responders should push hard and fast and should allow for complete chest recoil to maximize cardiac filling.
Care should be taken to minimize interruptions to CPR and to avoid overventilation.
Code medications should be administered according to PALS guidelines. See Table 7-1.
Further research on goal-directed endpoints (end tidal CO2, etc.) is necessary, but a sudden increase in end-tidal CO2 suggests return of spontaneous circulation.