R.E.B.E.L.EM - August 14, 2017 - By Alicia Skelton
"Authors Conclusions:
“Amiodarone significantly improves survival to hospital admission. However, amiodarone does not improve survival to discharge or neurological outcomes compared to placebo or other antidysrhythmics.”
Our Conclusions:
This systematic review and meta-analysis demonstrates that while amiodarone significantly increased survival to hospital to admission compared with placebo or other antidysrhythmics for OHCA, it does not significantly improve favorable neurological outcome or survival to hospital discharge. Ultimately, these outcomes are more meaningful from both a cost and quality of life perspective.
Potential to Impact Current Practice:
Given this review and analysis, providers should consider removing amiodarone from their routine cardiac arrest algorithm and focus on interventions that have the ability to improve survival such as high quality chest compressions and defibrillation.
Clinical Bottom Line:
Based on the available evidence, amiodarone does not appear to be associated with any meaningful clinical outcome in cardiac arrest including neurological outcome or survival to hospital discharge."