Distribution of certain pathophysiologic forms of cardiac arrest and survival in patients of Zenica-Doboj canton
Aim To determine the presence of the pathophysiological forms of cardiac arrest at the beginning and at the end of the reanimation procedures and survival of the patients. Methods This retrospective-descriptive-analytic research involved 41 patients admitted to the Department for urgent and regular admission at the Canton Hospital Zenica during the period 01 September 2008 to 31 May 2009. The data (number of patients before treatment, number of survivors and deaths, ECG forms of the cardiac arrest) were extracted from the Protocols. Chi-square test was used for the comparision of the data and calculation of statistical significance at the level of 0.005. Results The most common pathophysiological form of cardiac arrest at the beginning of the reanimation procedures was asystole (AS), 27 patients (65.9%). Five patients survived cardiac arrest (12.2%). The most common pathophysiological form of the cardiac arrest, which was registered in the surviving patients immediately before the establishment of the normal cardiac rhythm was ventricular fibrillation (VF), four (80.0%) patients. One (3.7%) patient survived AS, four (66.7%) patients survived VF. Frequency of all forms of cardiac arrest was statistically significantly different (frequency of AS and EMD was higher and VT and VF was lower) in this study, than the expected frequency (p>0.005). Conclusion There is need for the improvement of the efficiency of pre-hospital treatment by improving the cooperation with institutions that provide first aid training (Red Cross).