Pro: All Cardiac Arrest Patients Should Be Transferred To a Cardiac Arrest Center.

Abstract

Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is characterized by a high prevalence and is burdened by significant mortality and morbidity. While underlying atherosclerotic coronary artery disease accounts for the majority of the cases in the Western world owing to lifestyle and dietary customs, several other conditions and diseases can lead to OHCA. Although patient survival rates have doubled over the past 3 decades, only marginal improvements in terms of overall survival and neurologic outcomes have been observed over the last decade. A growing body of evidence suggests that regional differences in OHCA outcomes may be attributable to differences in hospital infrastructure and healthcare provider expertise, thus contributing to increased awareness of the importance of cardiac arrest centers (CACs). CACs are centers of excellence for post-cardiac arrest care, which provide dedicated, continuous access to specialized multidisciplinary facilities and expert physicians (eg, emergency department, cardiac intensive care unit, coronary angiography laboratory, rehabilitation departments), ultimately seeking to optimize patient management and improve their survival rates and functional outcomes. Here we provide an overview of the complex management of OHCA patients and outline evidence-based benefits that can result from the treatment of OHCA patients in dedicated CACs.