A Bit of New Evidence on Drowning

An opportunity for a quick post to point to a new publication with something useful on drowning. From Dr Alan Garner.

Unfortunately we attend a number of paediatric drownings in the Sydney area every year. Many recover well. Some do not. Some do unexpectedly well. We have had a patient who was GCS 3 at our arrival and asystolic on the monitor make a full recovery. Most children in this situation however either die or are severely impaired.

This brings us to a vital question – when is it reasonable to stop resuscitation? Well, here’s some evidence to help inform the chat.

The Dutch Study

Over at the BMJ a new paper has just hit the screen:

Outcome after resuscitation beyond 30 minutes in drowned children with cardiac arrest and hypothermia: Dutch nationwide retrospective cohort study. 

This study is a nationwide observational study in the Netherlands of children with cardiac arrest…