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As a Course Director for Advance Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) classes, I read with interest the meta-analysis by Aung and Htay^1(p23) regarding vasopressin in the treatment of cardiac arrest. They conclude that although vasopressin "may be at least equivalent to epinephrine,"^1(p23) guidelines "should not recommend vasopressin in resuscitation protocols."^1(p17) Their primary objection to the use of vasopressin appears to be one of cost.

The authors state that the cost of 1 dose of vasopressin is 15 times the cost of 1 dose of epinephrine.² I would take issue with this cost evaluation on 2 points. Since the publication of their source reference for price, the cost of vasopressin has decreased considerably. Our hospital pharmacy reports that the current cost for a 40-unit dose of vasopressin is $2.40, while the cost for a 1-mg dose of epinephrine is $1.44. This would make the current cost of vasopressin per dose less than . . . [Full Text of this Article]

AUTHOR INFORMATION
Daniel D. Buff, MD, CNSP

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Vasopressin for Cardiac Arrest: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
KoKo Aung and Thwe Htay
Arch Intern Med. 2005;165(1):17-24.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT