Outcomes in patients after CPR: combining PCI and targeted temperature management

What interventions improve outcomes in patients after cardiopulmonary resuscitation? Is a combination of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and targeted temperature management an optimal approach?

Bernd W. Böttiger: That is what we recommend. If someone is comatose after return of spontaneous circulation, he or she needs targeted temperature management or some kind of therapeutic hypothermia, and this is regardless of the initial rhythm and regardless of whether this is an in-hospital cardiac arrest or an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. In all comatose patients, we recommend a constant target temperature between 32 and 36 degrees Celsius for at least 24 hours, and that should run in parallel with PCI procedures, if they are indicated.