The Impact of Therapeutic Hypothermia Used to Treat Anoxic Brain Injury After Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation on Organ Donation Outcomes.

Therapeutic hypothermia (TH) is clinically used to improve neurologic outcomes in patients with anoxic brain injury after cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). For patients that regress and become organ donors after neurologic determination of death (DNDDs), the impact of TH received before determination of death on organ donation outcomes remains unknown. A prospective observational study of all adult DNDDs that received CPR and had anoxia as a cause of death from March 2013 to December 2014 was conducted across 20 organ procurement organizations (OPOs) in the United States.

Ischemic Stroke Risk After Acute Coronary Syndrome.

Background: Prior studies show an increased risk of ischemic stroke (IS) after myocardial infarction; however, there is limited evidence on long-term risk and whether it is directly related to cardiac injury. We hypothesized that the risk of IS after acute coronary syndrome is significantly higher if there is evidence of cardiac injury, such as ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) or non-STEMI, than when there is no evidence of cardiac injury, such as in unstable angina.

Methods And Results: Administrative claims data were obtained from all emergency department encounters and hospitalizations at California's nonfederal acute care hospitals between 2008 and 2011.

The CHADS2 Components Are Associated with Stroke-Related In-hospital Mortality in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation.

Background: The CHADS2 score predicts stroke risk in patients with atrial fibrillation. Although strokes caused by atrial fibrillation carry the highest mortality when compared with other etiologies, it is not known whether the CHADS2 score predicts stroke-related mortality in patients with atrial fibrillation. We hypothesized that higher CHADS2 scores would be associated with higher stroke-related in-hospital mortality.