BEST CASE EVER 20: CPR in Trauma?!?! Closed Chest Compressions in Traumatic Arrest?!?! Is CPR ever successful in the trauma patient? Dr. Dave MacKinnon, Trauma Team Leader at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, gives you his Best Case Ever in the cardiac arrest trauma patient.

The literature is full of case series of zero survival in trauma patients requiring CPR.  For example,  this report in CJEM. Normally, we should not be thinking of CPR in traumatic arrests, but instead, ED thoracotomy as Scott Weingart of emcrit describes in his podast 36 – Traumatic Arrest. But just wait until you here Dave’s Best Case Ever……….

In the related Episode, ‘Update in Trauma Literature’, Dr. Dave MacKinnonDr. Mike Brzozowski return for the newest in the Trauma literature since the epic Episode 10: Trauma Pearls & Pitfalls. In this episode, we discuss – predicting the sick trauma patient, the value of lactate, end-tidal CO2 and base deficit in the polytrauma patient, videolaryngoscopy vs traditional laryngoscopy, Damage Control Resuscitation, Permissive Hypotension, Occult Hemothorax, Blunt Thoracic Aorta and Cardiac Injury, Sternal Fractures, Tranexamic Acid, Throboelastography, Communication in the trauma bay and much more……

Published by Anton Helman, December 2013

Additional FOAMed Resources on CPR in Trauma and Traumatic Arrest

EMCrit Podcast 36 – Traumatic Arrest

ERCast – No CPR in Trauma Arrest?

St. Emlyn’s – Apply Some Pressure? Traumatic Cardiac Arrest

For more on Trauma Bay Pearls & Pitfalls download free eBook EM Cases Digest Vol.1 MSK & Trauma

em cases digest

Dr. Helman and Dr. MacKinnon have no conflicts of interest to declare.