September 11th, 2014
Is This Trial Ethical?
CardioExchange Editors, Staff
Last month, an article appeared in The Telegraph (U.K.) describing a randomized trial in which cardiac arrest patients will be assigned to receive epinephrine or placebo during resuscitation.
Current ALCS guidelines contain a Class IIb, level A recommendation for administration of epinephrine for sustained VF and PEA/asystole but acknowledge that although epinephrine treatment has been demonstrated to increase rates of return of spontaneous circulation, it has not been shown to improve long-term survival.
This is not the first time epinephrine and placebo have been compared in a randomized trial; results of such a trial appeared in Resuscitation in 2011. Nonetheless, the new trial appears to have sparked ethical concerns about its delayed-consent procedure.
What do you think? Would you support such a trial in your EMS system?
Categories: General
Tags: advanced cardiac life support, cardiac arrest, epinephrine, informed consent, resuscitation
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
Comments are closed.
-
NEJM Journal Watch — Recent Cardiology Articles
- No Effect of Omecamtiv Mecarbil on Exercise Intolerance in Heart Failure with Reduced Ejection Fraction
- Better Cardiorespiratory Fitness Is Associated with Lower Mortality Risk at All Ages
- Hypothermia Isn't Better Than Normothermia After Cardiac Arrest
- Does Dual Antiplatelet Therapy Reduce Early Surgical Saphenous Vein Graft Failure?
- Risk of Noncardiac Surgery After TAVR
-
Sign up for NEJM Journal Watch Cardiology Alerts
Receive a free weekly email with the latest summaries on Cardiology.
-
Tag Cloud
- ACS AF AHA American Heart Association anticoagulation aortic valve replacement apixaban aspirin atrial fibrillation CABG cardiovascular risk cholesterol clopidogrel dabigatran diabetes diet drug-eluting stents epidemiology ESC exercise FDA Fellowship training guidelines HDL heart failure hypertension ICDs MI myocardial infarction obesity PCI Primary PCI risk factors rivaroxaban statins STEMI stents stroke stroke prevention TAVI TAVR type 2 diabetes venous thromboembolism warfarin women