Efforts to successfully restore life in cardiac arrest victims are formidably challenging. They require not only that cardiac activity be initially reestablished but that injury to vital organs be prevented or minimized. In this article, we discuss the effects that cardiac arrest and resuscitation have on the myocardium, describing first the functional myocardial abnormalities that occur during...

In the era before Therapeutic Hypothermia (TH) was recommended and used as a therapeutic modality for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) patients, reported data suggests in-hospital mortality exceeded 58%.[1,2,3,4,5,6] Mortality after a sudden and unexpected cardiac arrest (CA) is high, and the chance of survival to hospital discharge has, until recently, remained unchanged.[7] In one report...

INTRODUCTION Although a few patients will survive after penetrating cardiac injuries, some of them may have unnoticeable intracardiac injuries. The combination of aorto-right ventricular fistula with aortic valve injury is rare. CASE PRESENTATION A 19 year-old man referred with an aorto-right ventricular fistula accompanied with aortic regurgitation and delayed tamponade following a stab in t...

The rationale of urine alkalinization through intravenous sodium bicarbonate to prevent cardiac surgery-associated acute kidney injury relies on several pathophysiological arguments. Urine alkalinization is easily feasible in the ICU setting and is often considered to be associated with few side effects. In a previous issue of Critical Care, a retrospective study evaluates the effect of routine...

Abstract Background Cardiac arrest (CA) is a leading cause of death worldwide. Even after successful cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), the majorities survivals are companied with permanent myocardial and cerebral injury. Hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S) has been recognized as novel gasotransmitter exerting multiple organ protection; however, lacks ideal H S donors which can controlled release to tar...