Cardiopulmonary resuscitation in special circumstances.

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation prioritises treatment for cardiac arrests from a primary cardiac cause, which make up the majority of treated cardiac arrests. Early chest compressions and, when indicated, a defibrillation shock from a bystander give the best chance of survival with a good neurological status. Cardiac arrest can also be caused by special circumstances, such as asphyxia, trauma, pulmonary embolism, accidental hypothermia, anaphylaxis, or COVID-19, and during pregnancy or perioperatively. Cardiac arrests in these circumstances represent an increasing proportion of all treated cardiac arrests, often have a preventable cause, and require additional interventions to correct a reversible cause during resuscitation. The evidence for treating these conditions is mostly of low or very low certainty and further studies are needed. Irrespective of the cause, treatments for cardiac arrest are time sensitive and most effective when given early-every minute counts.
Competing Interests: Declaration of interests JS is an editor of the journal Resuscitation and receives payment from the publisher Elsevier, outside the submitted work. LBB reports grants from Philips, US National Institutes of Health, ZOLL Medical, Nihon Kohden, PCORI, BrainCool, and United Therapeutics, outside the submitted work. LBB has patents for a cooling technology, and a patent for a reperfusion methodology issued. SE reports personal fees from Springer Verlag, non-financial support from Zoll, personal fees from Medtronic (Oridion), grants and other from Diasorin, outside the submitted work. All other authors declare no competing interests.
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