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Objective: To describe characteristics of patients admitted with refractory cardiac arrest for possible extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (ECPR) and gain insight into the reasons for refraining from treatment in some.Methods: Nationwide retrospective cohort study involving all tertiary centres providing ECPR in Denmark. Consecutive patients admitted with ongoing chest compression for evaluation for ECPR treatment were enrolled. Presenting characteristics, duration of no-flow and low-flow time, end-tidal carbon dioxide (ETCO2), lactate and pH, and recording of reasons for refraining from ECPR documented by the treating team were recorded. Outcomes were survival to intensive care unit admission and survival to hospital discharge.Results: Of 579 patients admitted with refractory cardiac arrest for possible ECPR, 221 patients (38%) proceeded to ECPR and 358 patients (62%) were not considered candidates. Median prehospital low-flow time was 70 min (IQR 56 to 85) in ECPR patients and 62 min (48 to 81) in no-ECPR patients, p<0.001. Intra-arrest transport was more than 50 km in 92 (42%) ECPR patients and 135 in no-ECPR patients (38%), p=0.25. The leading causes for not initiating ECPR stated by the treating team were duration of low-flow time in 39%, severe metabolic derangement in 35%, and in 31% low ETCO2. The prevailing combination of contributing factors were non-shockable rhythm, low ETCO2, and metabolic derangement or prehospital low-flow time combined with low ETCO2. Survival to discharge was only achieved in six patients (1.7%) in the no-ECPR group.Conclusions: In this large nationwide study of patients admitted for possible ECPR, two-thirds of patients were not treated with ECPR. The most frequent reasons to abstain from ECPR were long duration of prehospital low-flow time, metabolic derangement and low ETCO2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The Third Danish Study of Optimal Acute Treatment of Patients with ST-segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction - Ischaemic Postconditioning (DANAMI-3-iPOST) did not show improved clinical outcome in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) treated with ischaemic postconditioning. However, the use of thrombectomy was frequent and thrombectomy may in itself diminish the effect of ischaemic postconditioning. We evaluated the effect of ischaemic postconditioning in patients included in DANAMI-3-iPOST stratified by the use of thrombectomy.Methods: Patients with STEMI were randomised to conventional primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) or ischaemic postconditioning plus primary PCI. The primary endpoint was a combination of all-cause mortality and hospitalisation for heart failure.Results: From March 2011 until February 2014, 1234 patients were included with a median follow-up period of 35 (interquartile range 28 to 42) months. There was a significant interaction between ischaemic postconditioning and thrombectomy on the primary endpoint (p=0.004). In patients not treated with thrombectomy (n=520), the primary endpoint occurred in 33 patients (10%) who underwent ischaemic postconditioning (n=326) and in 35 patients (18%) who underwent conventional treatment (n=194) (adjusted hazard ratio (HR) 0.55 (95%confidence interval (CI) 0.34 to 0.89), p=0.016). In patients treated with thrombectomy (n=714), there was no significant difference between patients treated with ischaemic postconditioning (n=291) and conventional PCI (n=423) on the primary endpoint (adjusted HR 1.18 (95% CI 0.62 to 2.28), p=0.62).Conclusions: In this post-hoc study of DANAMI-3-iPOST, ischaemic postconditioning, in addition to primary PCI, was associated with reduced risk of all-cause mortality and hospitalisation for heart failure in patients with STEMI not treated with thrombectomy.Trial Registration Number: NCT01435408. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study on recent advances in the understanding of the epidemiology and pathophysiology of HIV-associated cardiovascular diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa. It mentions that the study presented clinically relevant advances in diagnosis and treatment of HIV-associated cardiovascular diseases. The study found that pericardial disease is the most common presentation of HIV-related cardiovascular disease.