Coronaryangiographyaftercardiacarrestisimportanttoascertainpotentialtreatablecausesofcardiacarrest,salvagemyocardium,andpotentiallyincreaselong-termsurvival.Thecauseofadultout-of-hospitalcardiacarrestistypicallymyocardialischemia.Morethan50%ofsuchresuscitatedinpidualswillhaveanacutelyoccludedepicardialcoronaryonemergencycoronaryangiography.ThisincludesthreeinfourwithST-segmentelevationandoneinthreewithoutSTsegmentelevation.Inthelattertheonlyreliablemethodofdetectioniscoronaryangiography.Numerouscohortstudies,nowincludingmorethan8000patients,haveshownanassociationbetweensurvivalandearlycoronaryangiographyand/orpercutaneouscoronaryintervention.Publicreportingofpercutaneouscoronaryintervention30-daymortalityrateshasbeenanimpedimentforextendingthistherapytoallresuscitatedinpidualswhoexperiencedout-of-hospitalcardiacarrest,sincecurrentdatabasestodofullyrisk-adjustratesforthissubgroup.Sincereeffortsareunderwaytocorrectthissituation.
