Outcome of cardiac arrest post open heart procedures in a tertiary care hospital

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Cardiac arrest following an open-heart surgery can be a devastating event, leading to severe mortality and morbidity. Various factors may precipitate cardiac arrest by decreasing perfusion to the heart. Open chest cardiac resuscitation is superior to closed chest cardiac resuscitation in restoring blood flow to the heart. The time between the onset of cardiac arrest to the provision of necessary method of resuscitation is of crucial significance, in deciding the outcome. If perfusion is not restored to the heart, within 5 minutes of closed chest cardiac resuscitation, a resternotomy is indicated. In this article we document number of cardiac arrests after open heart procedures in a tertiary care hospital