 |
 |

Survival After the Resuscitation
 |
 |
| Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings. |
|
 |
 |
We applaud the work of Zoch et al,1 which documents the effect of patients' characteristics on short- and long-term survival after cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Their article has some major problems, however. The definitions of the categories of the patients are unclear. The lack of "Utstein style" definitions2 limits the comparison of Zoch and colleagues' findings with those of other studies. This is most unfortunate, because the study has the data that are required for the use of the Utstein style, such as the number of admissions per year and the number of resuscitations attempted during which the patients received only electrical therapy, respiratory interventions, chest compressions, medications, or combination therapy.
Zoch and colleagues also use terms imprecisely. They include all resuscitations in the study; many involved only cardiac or pulmonary arrest. The term cardiopulmonary resuscitation is misleading and inappropriate. The limits of therapeutic interventions are not clearly defined by the authors, . . . [Full Text of this Article]
|