SOONER THAN I THOUGHT!
AHA 2015 ECC GUIDELINES
Targeted Temperature Management
2015 (Updated): All comatose (ie, lacking meaningful response to verbal commands) adult patients with ROSC after cardiac arrest should have TTM, with a target temperature between 32°C and 36°C selected and achieved, then maintained constantly for at least 24 hours.
2010 (Old): Comatose (ie, lacking of meaningful response to verbal commands) adult patients with ROSC after out-of-hospital VF cardiac arrest should be cooled to 32°C to 34°C for 12 to 24 hours. Induced hypothermia also may be considered for comatose adult patients with ROSC after IHCA of any initial rhythm or after OHCA with an initial rhythm of pulseless electrical activity or asystole.
Why: Initial studies of TTM examined cooling to temperatures between 32°C and 34°C compared with no well-defined TTM and found improvement in neurologic outcome for those in whom hypothermia was induced. A recent high-quality study compared temperature management at 36°C and at 33°C and found outcomes to be similar for both. Taken together, the initial studies suggest that TTM is beneficial, so the recommendation remains to select a single target temperature and perform TTM. Given that 33°C is no better than 36°C, clinicians can select from a wider range of target temperatures. The selected temperature may be determined by clinician preference or clinical factors.
Continuing Temperature Management Beyond 24 Hours
2015 (New): Actively preventing fever in comatose patients after TTM is reasonable.
Why: In some observational studies, fever after rewarming from TTM is associated with worsened neurologic injury, although studies are conflicting. Because preventing fever after TTM is relatively benign and fever may be associated with harm, preventing fever is suggested.
Out-of-Hospital Cooling
2015 (New): The routine prehospital cooling of patients with rapid infusion of cold IV fluids after ROSC is not recommended.
Why: Before 2010, cooling patients in the prehospital setting had not been extensively evaluated. It had been assumed that earlier initiation of cooling might provide added benefits and also that prehospital initiation might facilitate and encourage continued in-hospital cooling. Recently published high-quality studies demonstrated no benefit to prehospital cooling and also identified potential complications when using cold IV fluids for prehospital cooling.
