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Without evidence of benefit, an intervention should not be presumed to be beneficial or safe.

- Rogue Medic

This Rhythm is Hilarious

Fri, 04 Jan 2019 12:46:23 -0500 by
 


Click on the image to make it larger.
 

Apparently, the second 12 lead was after 150 mg of amiodarone. The hilarity is the amiodarone.

I received this in an email. It is reported to have been posted on Facebook, but I choose not to have access to Facebook, so I do not have any more details. I am occasionally tempted to set up an account again, but I generally prefer intentional comedy.

Everything you need to know is in the first 12 lead.

Things that do not matter:

Distance to the hospital.

Time of onset.

Last meal.

National Registry certification.

Et cetera.

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Filed Under: ACLS, Assessment, Cardiology, Critical Judgment, Heresy, Pharmacology, Placebo, Understanding, V Tach

A Randomized Trial of Epinephrine in Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest – Part I

Thu, 19 Jul 2018 14:40:46 -0400 by
 
Also to be posted on ResearchBlogging.org when they relaunch the site.

The results are in from the only completed Adrenaline (Epinephrine in non-Commonwealth countries) vs. Placebo for Cardiac Arrest study.
 


 

Even I overestimated the possibility of benefit of epinephrine.

I had hoped that there would be some evidence to help identify patients who might benefit from epinephrine, but that is not the case.

PARAMEDIC2 (Prehospital Assessment of the Role of Adrenaline: Measuring the Effectiveness of Drug Administration in Cardiac Arrest) compared adrenaline (epinephrine) with placebo in a “randomized, double-blind trial involving 8014 patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest”.

More people survived for at least 30 days with epinephrine, which is entirely expected. There has not been any controversy about whether giving epinephrine produces pulses more often than not giving epinephrine. As with amiodarone (Nexterone and Pacerone), the question has been whether we are just filling the ICUs and nursing home beds with comatose patients.
 

There was no statistical evidence of a modification in treatment effect by such factors as the patient’s age, whether the cardiac arrest was witnessed, whether CPR was performed by a bystander, initial cardiac rhythm, or response time or time to trial-agent administration (Fig. S7 in the Supplementary Appendix). [1]

 

The secondary outcome is what everyone has been much more interested in – what are the neurological outcomes with adrenaline vs. without adrenaline?

The best outcome was no detectable neurological impairment.
 

the benefits of epinephrine that were identified in our trial are small, since they would result in 1 extra survivor for every 112 patients treated. This number is less than the minimal clinically important difference that has been defined in previous studies.29,30 Among the survivors, almost twice the number in the epinephrine group as in the placebo group had severe neurologic impairment.

Our work with patients and the public before starting the trial (as summarized in the Supplementary Appendix) identified survival with a favorable neurologic outcome to be a higher priority than survival alone. [1]

 


Click on the image to make it larger.
 

Are there some patients who will do better with epinephrine than without?

Maybe (I would have written probably, before these results), but we still do not know how to identify those patients.

Is titrating tiny amounts of epinephrine, to observe for response, reasonable? What response would we be looking for? Wat do we do if we observe that response? We have been using epinephrine for over half a century and we still don’t know when to use it, how much to use, or how to identify the patients who might benefit.

I will write more about these results later

We now have evidence that, as with amiodarone, we should only be using epinephrine as part of well controlled trials.

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Also see –

How Bad is Epinephrine (Adrenaline) for Cardiac Arrest, According to the PARAMEDIC2 Study?

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Footnotes:

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[1] A Randomized Trial of Epinephrine in Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest.
Perkins GD, Ji C, Deakin CD, Quinn T, Nolan JP, Scomparin C, Regan S, Long J, Slowther A, Pocock H, Black JJM, Moore F, Fothergill RT, Rees N, O’Shea L, Docherty M, Gunson I, Han K, Charlton K, Finn J, Petrou S, Stallard N, Gates S, Lall R; PARAMEDIC2 Collaborators.
N Engl J Med. 2018 Jul 18. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1806842. [Epub ahead of print]
PMID: 30021076

Free Full Text from NEJM

All supplementary material is also available at the end of the article at the NEJM site in PDF format –

Protocol

Supplementary Appendix

Disclosure Forms

There is also an editorial, which I have not yet read, by Clifton W. Callaway, M.D., Ph.D., and Michael W. Donnino, M.D. –

Testing Epinephrine for Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest.
Callaway CW, Donnino MW.
N Engl J Med. 2018 Jul 18. doi: 10.1056/NEJMe1808255. [Epub ahead of print] No abstract available.
PMID: 30021078

Free Full Text from NEJM

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Filed Under: 2018 ACLS Guidelines, ACLS, Common Sense, Critical Judgment, Drug Shortages, Epinephrine, Ethics, Evidence, Heresy, Intubation, Lasix, Mythology, Narrative Fallacy, Oxygen, Pharmacology, Placebo, Potentially Reversible Causes, Probability, Research, Research Blogging, Resuscitation Theater, tPA

Cardiac arrest victim Trudy Jones ‘given placebo’ – rather than experimental epinephrine

Mon, 26 Mar 2018 08:20:13 -0400 by
 

As part of a study to find out if epinephrine (adrenaline in Commonwealth countries) is safe to use in cardiac arrest, a patient was treated with a placebo, rather than the inadequately tested drug. Some people are upset that the patient did not receive the drug they know nothing about.[1]

The critics are trying to make sure that we never learn.

We need to find out how much harm epinephrine causes, rather than make assumptions based on prejudices.

When used in cardiac arrest, does epinephrine produce a pulse more often?

Yes.

When used in cardiac arrest, does epinephrine produce a good outcome more often?

We don’t know.

In over half a century of use in cardiac arrest, we have not bothered to find out.
 


 

We did try to find out one time, but the media and politicians stopped it.[2]

We would rather harm patients with unreasonable hope, than find out how much harm we are causing to patients.

We would rather continue to be part of a huge, uncontrolled, unapproved, undeclared, undocumented, unethical experiment, than find out what works.

Have we given informed consent to that kind of experimentation?

Ignorance is bliss.

The good news is that the enrollment of patients has finished, so the media and politicians will not be able to prevent us from learning the little that we will be able to learn from this research.[3]

Will the results tell us which patients are harmed by epinephrine?

Probably not – that will require a willingness to admit the limits of what we learn and more research.

What EMS treatments have been demonstrated to improve outcomes from cardiac arrest?

1. High quality chest compressions.
2. Defibrillation, when indicated.

Nothing else.

All other treatments, when tested, have failed to be better than nothing (placebo).

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Footnotes:

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[1] Cardiac arrest victim Trudy Jones ‘given placebo’
BBC News
23 March 2018
Article

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[2] Effect of adrenaline on survival in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: A randomised double-blind placebo-controlled trial
Jacobs IG, Finn JC, Jelinek GA, Oxer HF, Thompson PL.
Resuscitation. 2011 Sep;82(9):1138-43. Epub 2011 Jul 2.
PMID: 21745533 [PubMed – in process]

Free Full Text PDF Download from semanticscholar.org
 

This study was designed as a multicentre trial involving five ambulance services in Australia and New Zealand and was accordingly powered to detect clinically important treatment effects. Despite having obtained approvals for the study from Institutional Ethics Committees, Crown Law and Guardianship Boards, the concerns of being involved in a trial in which the unproven “standard of care” was being withheld prevented four of the five ambulance services from participating.

 

In addition adverse press reports questioning the ethics of conducting this trial, which subsequently led to the involvement of politicians, further heightened these concerns. Despite the clearly demonstrated existence of clinical equipoise for adrenaline in cardiac arrest it remained impossible to change the decision not to participate.

 

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[3] Paramedic2 – The Adrenaline Trial
Warwick Medical School
Trial Updates
 

Trial Update – 19 February 2018:
PARAMEDIC2 has finished recruitment and we are therefore no longer issuing ‘No Study’ bracelets. The data collected from the trial is in the process of being analysed and we expect to publish the results in 2018. Once the results have been published, a summary will be provided on the trial website.

 

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Edited 12-27-2018 to correct link to pdf of Jacobs study in footnote 2.

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Filed Under: 'Alternative' Medicine, ACLS, Cardiac Arrest, Cardiology, Correction, CPR, Critical Judgment, Ethics, Evidence, Journalism, Pharmacology, Placebo, Research, Risk Management, Science

Is placebo better than aggressive medical treatment for patients NOT having a heart attack?

Fri, 10 Nov 2017 17:00:10 -0500 by
Also to be posted on ResearchBlogging.org when they relaunch the site.
 

Is cardiac catheterization placebo better than aggressive medical treatment for patients not having a heart attack?

No.
 

The answer is not really different from before. This should not be surprising for anyone who pays attention to EBM (Evidence-Based Medicine). We should all pay attention to EBM, because it is the best way to find out what works.

Many routine treatments are not beneficial to patients, but are considered to be standards of care. We continue to give these treatments out of unreasonable optimism, a fear of litigation, or fear of criticism for not following orders. The difference between the banality of evil and the banality of incompetence does not appear to be significant in any way that matters.

PCI (Percutaneous Coronary Intervention) treatment does not add any benefit – unless you are having a heart attack.

The placebo group received sham PCI in addition to optimized medical treatment. this did not provide any benefit over actual PCI in addition to optimized medical treatment. The patients in the placebo group received all of the same medications that the patients in the PCI group received.

Why is this news today?

A recent article in The Lancet is encouraging snake oil salesmen and snake oil saleswomen to claim that it shows the miracle healing power of placebos, but this is not true.

Apparently, Big Placebo (the multi-billion dollar alternative medicine industry) is trying to use this to promote their scams (homeopathy, acupuncture, Reiki, naturopathy, prayer, . . . ).

Big Placebo seems to think that this study shows that placebo is better than medical treatment. A placebo is an inactive intervention that is undetectable when compared with the active treatment. The placebo group received the same aggressive medications that the treatment group received.
 

All patients were pretreated with dual antiplatelet therapy. In both groups, the duration of dual antiplatelet therapy was the same and continued until the fial (unblinding) visit. Coronary angiography was done via a radial or femoral arterial approach with auditory isolation achieved by placing over-the-ear headphones playing music on the patient throughout the procedure.[1]

 

What is new about this?

A much larger study a decade ago showed that aggressive medical therapy was as good as PCI and aggressive medical therapy. The difference is the use of sham PCI to create a placebo group for comparison, rather than using a No PCI group for comparison.
 

CONCLUSIONS:
As an initial management strategy in patients with stable coronary artery disease, PCI did not reduce the risk of death, myocardial infarction, or other major cardiovascular events when added to optimal medical therapy.[2]

 

Compare that with the conclusion (interpretation) of the new paper.
 

INTERPRETATION:
In patients with medically treated angina and severe coronary stenosis, PCI did not increase exercise time by more than the effect of a placebo procedure. The efficacy of invasive procedures can be assessed with a placebo control, as is standard for pharmacotherapy.[1]

 

The unfortunate outcome is that we will have fewer hospitals providing PCI, so patients with heart attacks (STEMI – ST segment Elevation Myocardial Infarctions) may have to wait longer for emergency PCI, which really does improve outcomes.
 

What other Standards Of Care are NOT supported by valid evidence?

Amiodarone is effective for cardiac arrest, whether unwitnessed, witnessed, or witnessed by EMS.

Kayexalate (Sodium Polystyrene) is a good treatment for hyperkalemia. Anything that causes diarrhea will lower your potassium level, but that does not make it a good treatment, unless you are in an austere environment (in other words – not in a real hospital).

Amiodarone is effective for VT (Ventricular Tachycardia).

Backboards are effective to protect against spinal injury while transporting patients.

Blood-letting is effective for anything except hemochromatosis (and some rare disorders).

More paramedics are better for the patient.

Prehospital intravenous lines save lives.

IV fluid saves lives in hemorrhagic shock.

Oxygen should be given to everyone having a heart attack.

The Golden Hour is important.

Driving fast saves lives. For only some rare conditions, it probably does – and that depends on traffic.

Flying people to the hospital saves lives. Again, for only some rare conditions, it probably does – and that depends on traffic and distance.

Tourniquets are dangerous. As with anything else, if used inappropriately, they are dangerous, but tourniquets save lives.

Prehospital intubation saves lives.

Ventilation in cardiac arrest improves outcomes (other than for respiratory causes of cardiac arrest, which are easy to identify).

Epinephrine improves outcomes in cardiac arrest. It does produce a pulse more often, but at what cost to the long-term survival of the patient and the patient’s brain? PARAMEDIC2 should help us to identify which patients benefit from epinephrine, since it is clear that many patients are harmed by epinephrine in cardiac arrest. If we limit treatment to patients reasonably expected to benefit from the treatment, we can improve long-term survival.

And there are many more.

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Footnotes:

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[1] Percutaneous coronary intervention in stable angina (ORBITA): a double-blind, randomised controlled trial.
Al-Lamee R, Thompson D, Dehbi HM, Sen S, Tang K, Davies J, Keeble T, Mielewczik M, Kaprielian R, Malik IS, Nijjer SS, Petraco R, Cook C, Ahmad Y, Howard J, Baker C, Sharp A, Gerber R, Talwar S, Assomull R, Mayet J, Wensel R, Collier D, Shun-Shin M, Thom SA, Davies JE, Francis DP; ORBITA investigators.
Lancet. 2017 Nov 1. pii: S0140-6736(17)32714-9. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(17)32714-9. [Epub ahead of print]
PMID: 29103656

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[2] Optimal medical therapy with or without PCI for stable coronary disease.
Boden WE, O’Rourke RA, Teo KK, Hartigan PM, Maron DJ, Kostuk WJ, Knudtson M, Dada M, Casperson P, Harris CL, Chaitman BR, Shaw L, Gosselin G, Nawaz S, Title LM, Gau G, Blaustein AS, Booth DC, Bates ER, Spertus JA, Berman DS, Mancini GB, Weintraub WS; COURAGE Trial Research Group.
N Engl J Med. 2007 Apr 12;356(15):1503-16. Epub 2007 Mar 26.
PMID: 17387127

Free Full Text from N Engl J Med.

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Filed Under: 'Alternative' Medicine, Cardiology, Critical Judgment, EBM, Evidence, Journalism, Placebo, Research, Research Blogging

In Defense of No Improvement by Medic Madness – Part IV

Thu, 03 Apr 2014 18:30:22 -0400 by
ResearchBlogging.org
 

Continuing from Part I, Part II, and Part III in response to what I wrote about the failure of the LUCAS,[1] Sean continues with –
 

Another issue I have with this data, is that it doesn’t address the following variables:

  • Down time
  • Whether or not bystander CPR was performed
  • Medications used
  • Whether or not an advanced airway was placed
  • Length of resuscitation

All of these things are important when looking at the effectiveness of the LUCAS. Had all of these cases been witnessed full-arrests with immediate intervention, then I might feel differently. Perhaps they did look at these things, but from the data that’s available to the general public, I can’t determine whether or not the LUCAS doesn’t “do any good”. From what we can see, at the very worst it keeps up with some of the best-trained responders out there. Not bad, if you ask me.[2]

 

Did you look at the paper?

Are you guessing at what the study shows based on intuition?

The information is there. This will be mostly a picture book response.

Down time?

Whether bystander CPR was performed?
 


Click on images to make them larger.[3]
 

Medications used?
 


Study design.[4]
 

In both groups, ventilation and drugs were given according to guidelines.16 [3]

 

There is no breakdown for medications.

Of course, medications have not been demonstrated to improve any outcome that matters.

The best way to determine this would be by –

Length of resuscitation or time to ROSC (Return Of Spontaneous Circulation).?
 


 

Whether an advanced airway was placed?
 


 

This may favor the LUCAS, since airways seem to interfere with survival.

Maybe manual compressions really are not the same during an intubation attempt. Maybe people back off on compressions. Therefore, maybe it is easier to intubate under those circumstances. We do not know. The LUCAS may make intubation more difficult.

Worse CPR may mean better intubation, but since intubation doesn’t improve anything, is that a good compromise?

Which is our no improvement device of choice? 😳
 

Conclusion

We need to be looking at the whole picture here. If we can design a machine to do textbook-perfect CPR, and it doesn’t produce textbook results, then maybe we need to re-evaluate our textbook. Even if the studies do prove that the device isn’t improving survival rates, we still can’t discard the device as “worthless”. It has its place in situations with limited responders. And yes, the data supports that.[2]

 

Why assume that a textbook is right?

How often do I cite any textbook? The only textbook I regularly (and usually negatively) cite is ACLS.

Textbooks tend to be the last to change, but textbooks do change. The change is because research demonstrates that the textbook is wrong and needs to be revised. Textbooks are expected to be revised as we learn more from research.

When you suggest that the research does not confirm the biases of the textbook writers as evidence of a problem with the research, there is the possibility that you are right. This research may be providing evidence that the assumptions of the textbook writers are wrong. The way we find out is by looking closely at the quality of the research and looking at similar research.

However, LINC is good research.
 

Experimental studies with the mechanical chest compression device used in this study have shown improved organ perfusion pressures, enhanced cerebral blood flow, and higher end-tidal CO2 compared with manual CPR, with the latter also supported by clinical data.9- 11 [3]

 

Why is it that improving these surrogate endpoints does not improve what matters – survival? What do we not understand?

We should be more interested in doing no harm.

We seem to be more interested in throwing the kitchen sink at the patient, because what if the arrest is due to a kitchen sink deficiency?
 

Dr. Brooks Walsh also explains the failure of the LUCAS in this study in “We had a LUCAS save!” – No, you didn’t.

Peter Canning describes the failures of judgment in advocating for the LUCAS in Whup Kits and Chihuahuas.

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Footnotes:

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[1] The Failure of LUCAS to Improve Outcomes in the LINC Trial
Wed, 05 Mar 2014
Rogue Medic
Article

The LUCAS, Research, and Wishful Thinking
Fri, 07 Mar 2014
Rogue Medic
Article

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[2] In Defense of the LUCAS
March 12, 2014
by Sean Eddy
Medic Madness
Article

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[3] Mechanical chest compressions and simultaneous defibrillation vs conventional cardiopulmonary resuscitation in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: the LINC randomized trial.
Rubertsson S, Lindgren E, Smekal D, Östlund O, Silfverstolpe J, Lichtveld RA, Boomars R, Ahlstedt B, Skoog G, Kastberg R, Halliwell D, Box M, Herlitz J, Karlsten R.
JAMA. 2014 Jan 1;311(1):53-61. doi: 10.1001/jama.2013.282538.
PMID: 24240611 [PubMed – indexed for MEDLINE]

Free Full Text in PDF Download format from PEHSC.org.

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[4] The study protocol for the LINC (LUCAS in cardiac arrest) study: a study comparing conventional adult out-of-hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation with a concept with mechanical chest compressions and simultaneous defibrillation.
Rubertsson S, Silfverstolpe J, Rehn L, Nyman T, Lichtveld R, Boomars R, Bruins W, Ahlstedt B, Puggioli H, Lindgren E, Smekal D, Skoog G, Kastberg R, Lindblad A, Halliwell D, Box M, Arnwald F, Hardig BM, Chamberlain D, Herlitz J, Karlsten R.
Scand J Trauma Resusc Emerg Med. 2013 Jan 25;21:5. doi: 10.1186/1757-7241-21-5.
PMID: 23351178 [PubMed – indexed for MEDLINE]

Free Full Text from PubMed Central.

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Rubertsson S, Lindgren E, Smekal D, Östlund O, Silfverstolpe J, Lichtveld RA, Boomars R, Ahlstedt B, Skoog G, Kastberg R, Halliwell D, Box M, Herlitz J, & Karlsten R (2014). Mechanical chest compressions and simultaneous defibrillation vs conventional cardiopulmonary resuscitation in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: the LINC randomized trial. JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association, 311 (1), 53-61 PMID: 24240611

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Rubertsson S, Silfverstolpe J, Rehn L, Nyman T, Lichtveld R, Boomars R, Bruins W, Ahlstedt B, Puggioli H, Lindgren E, Smekal D, Skoog G, Kastberg R, Lindblad A, Halliwell D, Box M, Arnwald F, Hardig BM, Chamberlain D, Herlitz J, & Karlsten R (2013). The study protocol for the LINC (LUCAS in cardiac arrest) study: a study comparing conventional adult out-of-hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation with a concept with mechanical chest compressions and simultaneous defibrillation. Scandinavian journal of trauma, resuscitation and emergency medicine, 21 PMID: 23351178
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Filed Under: Cardiac Arrest, Critical Judgment, Evidence, Heresy, Placebo, Research

In Defense of No Improvement by Medic Madness – Part III

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 10:15:03 -0400 by
ResearchBlogging.org
 

Continuing from Part I and Part II, in response to what I wrote about the failure of the LUCAS,[1] Sean continues with –
 

So do these results reflect on a device that’s over-hyped, or are we missing something in our current CPR guidelines? Keep in mind that this study involved highly trained and prepared responders using the most up-to-date recommendations for CPR delivery. We developed a machine to do exactly what we tell it to. It follows the guidelines exactly as we want, and yet, it can’t produce the results we hoped for. Perhaps the machine isn’t the problem.[2]

 

Maybe the machine was never the answer.
 

In clinical practice, mechanical CPR using the presented algorithm did not result in improved effectiveness compared with manual CPR.[3]

 

This is probably just a reflection of how little we understand of what we are doing.

Everything we do in EMS, and especially in resuscitation, is over-hyped.

If our worry is that we will look like we are not doing enough, then open heart cardiac massage can make it clear that we are doing a lot.[4]   😯
 

Image credit.
 

How many survival studies do we have that randomize patients between a placebo and a vasopressor treatment?

For epinephrine (Adrenaline), vasopressin, norepinephrine (Levophed), or phenylephrine (Neo-Synephrine)?[5]

Here is the evidence of of what happens to survival with epinephrine.[6] I added the two most recent studies.[7],[8] There are no positive epinephrine studies.
 

 

Epinephrine may turn out to be beneficial for some subset of patients, but it is unlikely that epinephrine is beneficial just because the patient remains dead long enough to be given a drug.

A mnemonic for teaching ACLS is – Everybody dead gets epi, because current ACLS (Advanced Cardiac Life Support) guidelines tell us to give epinephrine (or norepinephrine, or vasopressin, or phenylephrine) to all patients who remain dead long enough to be given a drug.

Got a dead patient and can’t think of what to do next? Give epi.

What are we going to do, poison them? Our first dose was so far above the therapeutic range, that it would be considered poisonous if the patient were not already dead.

Vasopressors produce just as much no improvement as a LUCAS.
 

How many survival studies do we have that randomize patients between a placebo and an antiarrhythmic active treatment in cardiac arrest?

Foe amiodarone (Cordarone), lidocaine (Xylocaine), procainamide (Procaine), and magnesium?[9]

In two studies of magnesium, there was no improvement in survival vs. placebo.[10],[11]

In one study of amiodarone, there was improvement in everything except survival to discharge – more patients were resuscitated, but they died in the hospital.[12]

Antiarrhythmics produce just as much no improvement as a LUCAS.
 

There have been other studies of vasopressors and of antiarrhythmics against other unknowns, but does a positive outcome against a different unknown mean more beneficial than the other unknown or just less harmful than the other unknown?

We are aren’t even using Schrödinger’s treatments, because we don’t know if a good outcome means that the patient is surviving because of what we are doing or surviving in spite of what we are doing. We appear to be just happy to be doing something.

Still, we insist on giving these treatments, because we are afraid of doing too little.

We don’t know enough to know what too little is, but it is our fear of doing too little that keeps us from learning what works.

While this is not Sean’s fault, he is aggressively advocating for more of the status quo – the dramatic lack of improvement that we expect from EMS treatments.
 

The LUCAS failed – unless our idea of success is to make no difference in outcomes, because improving resuscitation outcomes is not really our goal.

EMS – we improve nothing more expensively, more dramatically, and more consistently than anyone else!
 

I look at the flawed claims of flaws in the paper in Part IV.

Dr. Brooks Walsh also explains the failure of the LUCAS in this study in “We had a LUCAS save!” – No, you didn’t.

Peter Canning describes the failures of judgment in advocating for the LUCAS in Whup Kits and Chihuahuas.

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Footnotes:

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[1] The Failure of LUCAS to Improve Outcomes in the LINC Trial
Wed, 05 Mar 2014
Rogue Medic
Article

The LUCAS, Research, and Wishful Thinking
Fri, 07 Mar 2014
Rogue Medic
Article

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[2] In Defense of the LUCAS
March 12, 2014
by Sean Eddy
Medic Madness
Article

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[3] Mechanical chest compressions and simultaneous defibrillation vs conventional cardiopulmonary resuscitation in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: the LINC randomized trial.
Rubertsson S, Lindgren E, Smekal D, Östlund O, Silfverstolpe J, Lichtveld RA, Boomars R, Ahlstedt B, Skoog G, Kastberg R, Halliwell D, Box M, Herlitz J, Karlsten R.
JAMA. 2014 Jan 1;311(1):53-61. doi: 10.1001/jama.2013.282538.
PMID: 24240611 [PubMed – indexed for MEDLINE]

Free Full Text in PDF Download format from PEHSC.org.

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[4] A Resuscitation Question So Obvious That . . . .
Sun, 19 Jan 2014
Rogue Medic
Article

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[5] Vasopressors
2010 American Heart Association Guidelines for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Science
Part 8: Adult Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support
Part 8.2: Management of Cardiac Arrest
Medications for Arrest Rhythms
Free Full Text from Circulation with link to PDF Download

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[6] Vasopressors in cardiac arrest: a systematic review.
Larabee TM, Liu KY, Campbell JA, Little CM.
Resuscitation. 2012 Aug;83(8):932-9. Epub 2012 Mar 15.
PMID: 22425731 [PubMed – in process]
 

CONCLUSION: There are few studies that compare vasopressors to placebo in resuscitation from cardiac arrest. Epinephrine is associated with improvement in short term survival outcomes as compared to placebo, but no long-term survival benefit has been demonstrated. Vasopressin is equivalent for use as an initial vasopressor when compared to epinephrine during resuscitation from cardiac arrest. There is a short-term, but no long-term, survival benefit when using high dose vs. standard dose epinephrine during resuscitation from cardiac arrest. There are no alternative vasopressors that provide a long-term survival benefit when compared to epinephrine. There is limited data on the use of vasopressors in the pediatric population.

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[7] Prehospital epinephrine use and survival among patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.
Hagihara A, Hasegawa M, Abe T, Nagata T, Wakata Y, Miyazaki S.
JAMA. 2012 Mar 21;307(11):1161-8. doi: 10.1001/jama.2012.294.
PMID: 22436956 [PubMed – indexed for MEDLINE]

Free Full Text from JAMA.

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[8] Impact of early intravenous epinephrine administration on outcomes following out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.
Hayashi Y, Iwami T, Kitamura T, Nishiuchi T, Kajino K, Sakai T, Nishiyama C, Nitta M, Hiraide A, Kai T.
Circ J. 2012;76(7):1639-45. Epub 2012 Apr 5.
PMID: 22481099 [PubMed – indexed for MEDLINE]

Free Full Text from Circulation Japan.

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[9] Antiarrhythmics
2010 American Heart Association Guidelines for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Science
Part 8: Adult Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support
Part 8.2: Management of Cardiac Arrest
Medications for Arrest Rhythms
Free Full Text from Circulation with link to PDF Download

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[10] Randomised trial of magnesium in in-hospital cardiac arrest. Duke Internal Medicine Housestaff.
Thel MC, Armstrong AL, McNulty SE, Califf RM, O’Connor CM.
Lancet. 1997 Nov 1;350(9087):1272-6.
PMID: 9357406 [PubMed – indexed for MEDLINE]

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[11] Magnesium sulfate in the treatment of refractory ventricular fibrillation in the prehospital setting.
Allegra J, Lavery R, Cody R, Birnbaum G, Brennan J, Hartman A, Horowitz M, Nashed A, Yablonski M.
Resuscitation. 2001 Jun;49(3):245-9.
PMID: 11719117 [PubMed – indexed for MEDLINE]

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[12] Amiodarone for resuscitation after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest due to ventricular fibrillation.
Kudenchuk PJ, Cobb LA, Copass MK, Cummins RO, Doherty AM, Fahrenbruch CE, Hallstrom AP, Murray WA, Olsufka M, Walsh T.
N Engl J Med. 1999 Sep 16;341(12):871-8.
PMID: 10486418 [PubMed – indexed for MEDLINE]

Free Full Text from New England Journal of Medicine.

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Rubertsson S, Lindgren E, Smekal D, Östlund O, Silfverstolpe J, Lichtveld RA, Boomars R, Ahlstedt B, Skoog G, Kastberg R, Halliwell D, Box M, Herlitz J, & Karlsten R (2014). Mechanical chest compressions and simultaneous defibrillation vs conventional cardiopulmonary resuscitation in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: the LINC randomized trial. JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association, 311 (1), 53-61 PMID: 24240611

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Larabee TM, Liu KY, Campbell JA, & Little CM (2012). Vasopressors in cardiac arrest: a systematic review. Resuscitation, 83 (8), 932-9 PMID: 22425731

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Hagihara A, Hasegawa M, Abe T, Nagata T, Wakata Y, & Miyazaki S (2012). Prehospital epinephrine use and survival among patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association, 307 (11), 1161-8 PMID: 22436956

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Hayashi Y, Iwami T, Kitamura T, Nishiuchi T, Kajino K, Sakai T, Nishiyama C, Nitta M, Hiraide A, & Kai T (2012). Impact of early intravenous epinephrine administration on outcomes following out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Circulation journal : official journal of the Japanese Circulation Society, 76 (7), 1639-45 PMID: 22481099

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Thel MC, Armstrong AL, McNulty SE, Califf RM, & O’Connor CM (1997). Randomised trial of magnesium in in-hospital cardiac arrest. Duke Internal Medicine Housestaff. Lancet, 350 (9087), 1272-6 PMID: 9357406

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Allegra J, Lavery R, Cody R, Birnbaum G, Brennan J, Hartman A, Horowitz M, Nashed A, & Yablonski M (2001). Magnesium sulfate in the treatment of refractory ventricular fibrillation in the prehospital setting. Resuscitation, 49 (3), 245-9 PMID: 11719117

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Kudenchuk PJ, Cobb LA, Copass MK, Cummins RO, Doherty AM, Fahrenbruch CE, Hallstrom AP, Murray WA, Olsufka M, & Walsh T (1999). Amiodarone for resuscitation after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest due to ventricular fibrillation. The New England journal of medicine, 341 (12), 871-8 PMID: 10486418

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Filed Under: Cardiac Arrest, Critical Judgment, Evidence, Heresy, Placebo, Research

$16M on EMS Stroke Trial? Dr. Rick Bukata Wants His Money Back!

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 10:00:41 -0400 by

 

FAST-MAG[1] actually has good methodology, so why is Dr. Rick Bukata so upset? Is this just USC vs. UCLA off the field/court?

Should the hypothesis being tested have received the Queen for a Decade treatment?

He wants his money back? Roughly 160 million tax payers in the US, so $0.10 per tax payer, but he makes more than the average schlub, so maybe as much as 50 cents for him. He can’t even buy enough caffeine to raise his blood pressure with that.
 

In a commentary regarding the IMAGES trial by Larry Goldstein of the Duke Center for Cerebrovascular Disease in the same issue of the Lancet in which the study was published, he noted that of more than 40 clinical trials of “neuroprotectants” involving over 11,000 patients, none has shown any evidence of benefit. Ten years later, the same is true.[2]

 

But look at the animal studies!

But look at the time being saved!

The authors actually like to repeat the term Golden Hour – as if that is new or valid.
 

So, if you are still a believer in the potential of magnesium, why not try and give magnesium in a pilot clinical study involving stroke patients in the ED? It would have been a relatively simple study to do. It could have been performed in selected EDs throughout the country and the answer would have been established in a fraction of eight years and at a very small fraction of $16 million.

Instead, the Fast-Mag investigators decide that giving magnesium in the field (probably about 10-20 minutes faster than could be given in the ED) would be a reasonable study.[2]

 

Gosh, when he brings reason into the argument, it just seems that the other side has none.

What could the money have been spent on?

Epinephrine vs. placebo in cardiac arrest? The number of lives affected is large and we are currently treating based on philosophy, not science.

IV (IntraVenous) bolus NTG (NiTroGlycerin – GTN GlycerylTriNitrate in Commonwealth countries) vs. SL (SubLingual) NTG for acute CHF (Congestive Heart Failure)? This affects even more patients than cardiac arrest and there is good evidence that IV bolus NTG dramatically improves outcomes, while SL NTG is not based on evidence.

Excited delirium treatment with various IM (IntraMuscular) medications to see what is safest and most effective and at what dose. A large trial would be necessary.

With no good reason to be optimistic about outcomes, why take this multimillion dollar long shot?

Maybe it has to do with tPA (tissue Plasminogen Activator) and the failure to get emergency physicians to accept the poor research on tPA – tPA showed harm, or no benefit, in 9 out of 11 studies.[3]

Ironically, if those studies used methodology similar to this study, that could be showed harm, or no benefit, in 11 out of 11 studies.

Dr. Jeffrey L. Saver, one of the authors, has a presentation on FAST-MAG that spends a lot of time on tPA, even prehospital tPA.

What does Dr. Sarver consider to be positive about FAST-MAG? Here are some of his slides.[4]
 


 

FAST-MAG means more tPA use.
 


 

FAST-MAG means doing a lot of things that have not been done before and expecting the outcome to be good.

This is the kind of person who starts turning all of the dials on a ventilator and then looks at the patient to see what the result is.

A reasonable approach to research is to limit variables, not brag about how much prudence has been abandoned.
 


 

FAST-MAG means time will be saved, but . . . .
 

Walter Koroshetz, MD, neurologist and deputy director of the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH’s) National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, sponsor of the FAST-MAG study, says that lessons can be learned from the trial.[5]

 

“The NIH have a new network to do more prehospital trials, but we need phase 2 studies first that demonstrate some biological effect before going into a large costly phase 3 trials.”[5]

 

This is a $16 million bet that time is the only factor that matters.

I hope these doctors do not drive the way they gamble.

What were the results?

The results were the same as all of the previous studies of magnesium – no improvement.

There is no Magnesium Golden Hour.
 

And, please, no – don’t even consider the idea of giving tPA in the field.[2]

 

Well, . . . .
 

Dr. Saver explained that tPA cannot be given at present in a prehospital setting because hemorrhagic stroke has to be ruled out with computed tomography (CT). The use of ambulances with a CT scanner on board has been studied in Germany and is now starting to be tested in the United States.[5]

 

Be very afraid.

On the other hand, the authors did not rush this treatment into EMS protocols, as we recently have in EMS in so many places with therapeutic hypothermia, based entirely on research done in the ED (Emergency Department). It works in the ED, but not in the ambulance. 😳

FAST-MAG was approved in 1999, several years after the EMS nifedipine (Procardia) for hypertensive crisis crisis. There was no study in the EMS setting of a treatment for the EMS setting. This involved treatment of the surrogate endpoint of blood pressure numbers, which makes for an easy win, such as a systolic drop of 250 -> 90 in ten minutes. 😳

We need a balance between rushing to add the new cool treatment (and the predictable removal of the treatment decades later) and the inappropriate rush to a large scale trial of something that has repeatedly failed smaller studies.
 

Go read Dr. Bukata’s full article.

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Footnotes:

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[1] Methodology of the Field Administration of Stroke Therapy – Magnesium (FAST-MAG) phase 3 trial: Part 2 – prehospital study methods.
Saver JL, Starkman S, Eckstein M, Stratton S, Pratt F, Hamilton S, Conwit R, Liebeskind DS, Sung G, Sanossian N; FAST-MAG Investigators and Coordinators.
Int J Stroke. 2014 Feb;9(2):220-5. doi: 10.1111/ijs.12242.
PMID: 24444117 [PubMed – in process]

Methodology of the Field Administration of Stroke Therapy – Magnesium (FAST-MAG) phase 3 trial: Part 1 – rationale and general methods.
Saver JL, Starkman S, Eckstein M, Stratton S, Pratt F, Hamilton S, Conwit R, Liebeskind DS, Sung G, Sanossian N; FAST-MAG Investigators and Coordinators.
Int J Stroke. 2014 Feb;9(2):215-9. doi: 10.1111/ijs.12243. Epub 2014 Jan 13.
PMID: 24444116 [PubMed – in process]

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[2] $16M on EMS Stroke Trial? I Want My Money Back!
by Rick Bukata, MD
March 24, 2014
Emergency Physicians monthly
Article

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[3] The Guideline, The Science, and The Gap
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Dr. David Newman browngorilla540
Smart EM
Article

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[4] Treat Stroke in the Field:
Lessons from the NIH FAST-MAG Trial
Jeffrey L. Saver, MD, Professor of Neurology
UCLA Stroke Center
2012
Presentation Slides in PDF Downoad format.

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[5] FAST-MAG: No Benefit of Prehospital Magnesium in Stroke
Sue Hughes
February 14, 2014
Medscape
Article

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Filed Under: Epinephrine, Heresy, NTG, Placebo, Research, Science

In Defense of No Improvement by Medic Madness – Part II

Wed, 19 Mar 2014 18:30:26 -0400 by
 

Continuing from Part I, in response to what I wrote about the failure of the LUCAS,[1] Sean continues with –
 

No, there isn’t much data to suggest that using a LUCAS improves outcomes. Likewise, we aren’t discovering that it’s hurting people either. So at the very worst, it’s a luxury item.[2]

 

No.

I am critical of treatments that do not work. Once we start making excuses to use these treatments, we take decades to get rid of them.
 

No difference in survival or neurological outcome was seen for up to 6 months after the cardiac arrest as, by then, the vast majority of survivors had CPC scores of 1 or 2, and most patients with initial CPC scores of 3 or 4 had either improved or died. The numbers of serious adverse events and device-related adverse events were low.[3]

 

The LUCAS failed.

Unless your idea of success is to make no difference in outcomes, because improving resuscitation outcomes is not important.
 

Moving out of the big city and going to work in an area that utilizes volunteers as first-responders means that I often find myself working a resuscitation with just me and my partner. If – and I emphasize the word “if” – we happen to get first-responders to these calls, we still have no idea what kind of training or experience they have.[2]

 

The LUCAS as an excuse to tolerate incompetence.

Over, and over, and over, . . . this has been the main argument for the LUCAS.

We can’t expect EMS to perform high quality CPR.

We are too busy doing other things that do not improve outcomes to make sure that compressions are done well.

There are only two things that a paramedic needs to make sure are done well – compressions and defibrillation.

What do paramedics want to do?

We want to do things that do not improve outcomes, because we do not understand what we are doing and are easily distracted by shiny things. Maybe they can put a flashing light on the LUCAS, or give out badges with each use, and raise the price by $5,000 $10,000.
 


Rather than courage, we can award a LUCAS Save! medal – a shiny one.
 

If I am to take Sean seriously, perhaps it will be because he has taken the same argument against intubation and advocated for protecting patients from incompetent EMS by replacing endotracheal tubes with almost foolproof LMAs (Laryngeal Mask Airways).

More consistent, frees up a set of hands, probably less liability, . . . .

What?

Sean hasn’t applied the same logic to intubation in cardiac arrest?

I am shocked. 😯
 

I too have been a volunteer and I know the value of the care they provide. Having said that, it’s hard to get strict on training when they are already going out of their way to provide service to their community.[2]

 

I don’t blame the volunteer for the quality of care they provide when working with a paramedic right there.

I blame the paramedic.

It is my job to make sure that what is going on is done well. Compressions and defibrillation are all that matter. If I can’t manage that, intubation is definitely beyond my capabilities.
 

What’s the harm of treatments that do not improve outcomes alternative medicine?

I look at the criticisms of the actual research in Part III and Part IV.

Dr. Brooks Walsh also explains the failure of the LUCAS in this study in “We had a LUCAS save!” – No, you didn’t.

Peter Canning describes the failures of judgment in advocating for the LUCAS in Whup Kits and Chihuahuas.

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Footnotes:

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[1] The Failure of LUCAS to Improve Outcomes in the LINC Trial
Wed, 05 Mar 2014
Rogue Medic
Article

The LUCAS, Research, and Wishful Thinking
Fri, 07 Mar 2014
Rogue Medic
Article

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[2] In Defense of the LUCAS
March 12, 2014
by Sean Eddy
Medic Madness
Article

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[3] Mechanical chest compressions and simultaneous defibrillation vs conventional cardiopulmonary resuscitation in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: the LINC randomized trial.
Rubertsson S, Lindgren E, Smekal D, Östlund O, Silfverstolpe J, Lichtveld RA, Boomars R, Ahlstedt B, Skoog G, Kastberg R, Halliwell D, Box M, Herlitz J, Karlsten R.
JAMA. 2014 Jan 1;311(1):53-61. doi: 10.1001/jama.2013.282538.
PMID: 24240611 [PubMed – indexed for MEDLINE]

Free Full Text in PDF Download format from PEHSC.org.

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Filed Under: Cardiac Arrest, Critical Judgment, Evidence, Heresy, Placebo, Research
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