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Epinephrine and Vasopressin Use Following Cardiac Arrest After Cardiac Surgery

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Difficult Decisions in Cardiothoracic Critical Care Surgery

Abstract

This chapter serves the purpose of reviewing cardiac arrest indications for vasoactive pharmacotherapy in the post cardiac surgery setting. More precisely, the evidence surrounding the usage of these two drugs, their side effects and current opinions about their administration. This review was done by integrating major guideline publications and additional expert opinions published after the most recent official guidelines. While literature is scarce and of poor quality to support epinephrine use for cardiac arrest in patients having undergone cardiac surgery, it is still widely considered as a standard of care. This chapter aims at offering the reader a global picture of such literature.

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Abbreviations

ACLS:

Adult advanced cardiovascular life support

AHA:

American Heart Association

AVR:

Aortic valve replacement surgery

CA:

Cardiac arrest

CABG:

Coronary Aortic Bypass graft surgery

CACS:

Cardiac arrest following cardiac surgery

CPP:

Coronary perfusion pressure

ERC:

European Resuscitation Council

IHCA:

In hospital cardiac arrest

OHCA:

Out of hospital cardiac arrest

PEA:

Pulseless electrical activity

ROSC:

Return of spontaneous circulation

VF:

Ventricular fibrillation

VT:

Ventricular tachycardia

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Correspondence to Yoan Lamarche .

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Benkreira, A., Lamarche, Y. (2019). Epinephrine and Vasopressin Use Following Cardiac Arrest After Cardiac Surgery. In: Lonchyna, V. (eds) Difficult Decisions in Cardiothoracic Critical Care Surgery. Difficult Decisions in Surgery: An Evidence-Based Approach. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04146-5_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04146-5_9

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-04145-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-04146-5

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