Review article: Back to life from being declared dead in the Resus Bay: An integrative review of the phenomenon of autoresuscitation and learning for ED

Abstract

This is a literature review of ED autoresuscitation. The impetus for this review was a case which revealed a lack of understanding about Lazarus syndrome among ED staff. The primary objective was to see the proportion of cases who survived neurologically intact to discharge and the time frame when this occurred after death had been declared. A secondary outcome was to see whether these studies mention whether bedside echo was performed prior to deciding whether to terminate resuscitation. A systematic search of five databases was undertaken with keywords, ‘autoresuscitation’, ‘cardiac arrest’ and ‘emergency department’. Articles published in the English language were selected for inclusion. No time frame was selected because of the low number of articles. A total of 240 articles were identified, that yielded 26 cases that were relevant and could be synthesised to create a discussion on the current clinical guidelines around resuscitation. Our analysis demonstrates that of the 11 survivors who were discharged neurologically intact, the average age was 42.9 years; otherwise, the average was 62.6 years. The majority (23/26) 88% auto-resuscitated within 10 min after being pronounced dead. Only five patients are mentioned as having had a bedside echo prior to deciding to cease efforts. Under-reporting of autoresuscitation is suspected because of fears of blame. Passive monitoring for 10 min after resuscitation is ceased, is recommended. There is need for more data on this phenomenon to help inform further research on the topic.