Survival after 5-h resuscitation attempt for hypothermic cardiac arrest using CVVH for extracorporeal rewarming.

Hypothermic cardiac arrest is associated with a high mortality despite advances in pre-hospital rescue, rewarming techniques and intensive care management. Prolonged resuscitation is justified and full neurological recovery has been described using various methods of extracorporeal rewarming (Vretenar DF, Urschel JD, Parrott JCW et al. Ann Thorac Surg 1994; 58: 895-898; Hughes A, Riou P, Day C.