Cardiovascular response to epinephrine varies with increasing duration of cardiac arrest.

Objective: Epinephrine (adrenaline) is widely used as a primary adjuvant for improving perfusion pressure and resuscitation rates during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Epinephrine is also associated with significant myocardial dysfunction in the post-resuscitation period. We tested the hypothesis that the cardiac effects of epinephrine vary according to the duration of cardiac arrest.