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Topic: Asystole

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Type 1 Second degree heart block

Pulseless electrical activity

First degree heart block

Third degree heart block

Arrhythmia

Atrial fibrillation

Sudden cardiac death

Ventricular fibrillation

Ventricular tachycardia

Cardiac arrest

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Sick sinus syndrome

Supraventricular tachycardia

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	Asystole - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		Asystole is one of the conditions required for a medical practitioner to certify death.
		In asystole, the heart is not likely to respond to defibrillation because it is already depolarized, however some emergency physicians advocate the trial of defibrillation in the case that the rhythm is actually fine ventricular fibrillation, or a rhythm that is shockable but too small to be seen on the monitor.
		While the heart is asystolic, there is no blood flow to the brain unless CPR or internal cardiac massage (when the chest is opened and the heart is manually compressed) is performed, and then it is still a small amount.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Asystole (231 words)

	Asystole worksheet (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-04)
		In addition to its import for individual cases, a prohibition on shocking asystole emphasizes specificity beyond its true clinical importance and strengthens the mindset that defibrillation depends on a sophisticated differential diagnosis of the monitor pattern, either by a caregiver with advanced training or by a computer algorithm.
		The major purported danger of shocking asystole lacks a scientific basis, and the chance of an inappropriate shock significantly injuring a patient is miniscule when compared to the dangers of defibrillation delayed or denied to patients in VF.
		Results indicated that countershocks for apparent asystole may be more effective (and by inference, that 'occult' VF may be more common) late in an arrest than with initial asystole.
	www.defib.net /asyswk.htm (2450 words)

	Resuscitation Council (UK) Spurious Asystole (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-04)
		This spurious asystole may last long enough to delay further shocks and may mislead rescuers who rely on monitoring through the paddles.
		Spurious asystole is more likely to occur after several successive shocks have been applied through a set of gel pads and in the presence of high transthoracic impedance.
		The small chances of spurious asystole occurring does not prevent the use of quick look paddles (or preferably adhesive electrode patches), which remains the method of choice for the rapid, initial monitoring of a collapsed patient.
	www.resus.org.uk /pages/spur.htm (208 words)

	eMedicine - Asystole : Article Excerpt by: Richard Caggiano, MD (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-04)
		Asystole is most likely to be found in cardiopulmonary arrests occurring in children; this is usually secondary to another noncardiac event (ie, respiratory arrest due to sudden infant death syndrome, infection, choking, drowning, or poisoning).
		Occasionally, primary asystole can be reversed if it is due to pacemaker failure, which could be either intrinsic or extrinsic, and this is corrected immediately by external pacing.
		Sex: Frequency of asystole, as a percentage of all cardiopulmonary arrests, is higher in women than in men; however, the frequency of cardiac arrest in general is proportional to the underlying incidence of heart disease, which is more common in males until around 75 years of age.
	www.emedicine.com /emerg/byname/asystole.htm (557 words)

	Today in Cardiology - Vasopressin superior to epinephrine in asystole patients receiving CPR
		Among patients with asystole, vasopressin was associated with significantly higher rates of hospital admission and discharge; 29.0% hospital admission in the vasopressin-assigned patients vs. 20.3% in the epinephrine group ( P =.02), and 4.7% hospital discharge among vasopressin patients vs. 1.5% among epinephrine-assigned patients ( P =.04).
		Wenzel and colleagues found that among 732 patients in whom spontaneous circulation was not restored with the two injections of the study drug, additional treatment with epinephrine resulted in significant improvement in the rates of survival to hospital admission and hospital discharge in the vasopressin group, but not in the epinephrine group.
		More formally, to establish the superiority of vasopressin over epinephrine in asystolic cardiac arrest would require an appropriately powered trial in that population; the very small numbers do raise the possibility that these sub-analyses are a statistical fluke.
	www.cardiologytoday.com /200403/wenzel.asp (770 words)

	Asystole
		Absence of systol, that is, cessation of the blood circulating, with the heart at standstill, not pumping.
		Electric asystole is absence of electrical activity of the heart on the electrocardiogram.
		Specialty definitions using "asystole" : carotid sinus syncope, carotid sinus syndrome ♦ hypersensitive carotid sinus syndrome ♦ pacemaker dependency, pacer dependency.
	www.websters-online-dictionary.org /definition/english/As/Asystole.html (468 words)

	Online Pharmacy, Tramadol, Paxil, antibiotics, amoxicillin, zithromax, Rx Online, pharmaceuticals, DHEA, prescription ...
		Asystole (median (interquartile range)) lasted 10 (4, 19 X 2) s (range 3-90).
		During this period, therapy for asystole featured three different stages: first patients were treated with pacemakers; later drug therapy (metoprolol and/or etilefrine) was recommended; lastly (from 1995), no specific treatment was given.
		In a cohort age- and gender-matched study, those patients without were compared to those with asystole in a 2:1 basis.
	www.hairmillion.com /rx-online-info/metoprolol-online-rx/metoprolol-online-rx.319.html (761 words)

	ACLS.net Asystole ACLS Algorithm (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-04)
		Asystole may be discovered during the primary ABCD survey after attaching a monitor, or it may develop in a previously monitored patient.
		In either case, it is essential that asystole be confirmed in another lead with properly functioning equipment.
		If the patient is in true asystole and is a candidate for resuscitation, then proceed with the secondary ABCD survey.
	www.acls.net /newalgo/asystoleprint.htm (102 words)

	Resuscitation from Cardiac Arrest (page 3)
		Asystole occurs when there is no detectable electrical activity in the heart and is associated with a very poor prognosis.
		Patients in asystole or PEA, who have no underlying cause diagnosed, and who do not respond to BLS and adrenaline, have a very poor prognosis and in our experience resuscitation attempts are normally stopped after 10 - 15 minutes.
		Asystolic arrests are more likely with currents greater than 10 Amps but VT and VF are also common.
	www.nda.ox.ac.uk /wfsa/html/u10/u1006_03.htm (1852 words)

	Witnessed asystole during spinal anesthesia treated with atropine and ondansetron: a case report: [Asystolie pendant la ...
		by asystole, is consistent with a cardiac reflex.
		Asystole and severe bradycardia during epidural anesthesia in orthopedic patients.
		Sinus bradycardia and asystole during spinal and epidural anesthesia: a report of 13 cases.
	www.cja-jca.org /cgi/content/full/51/3/226 (2339 words)

	OUTCOME OF IN-HOSPITAL PEDIATRIC CARDIAC ARREST
		Restoration of spontaneous circulation from asystole was more difficult when compared to other arrest rhythm, but once circulation was restored, long-term outcome was not influenced by rhythm.
		Asystole was defined as absence of any complex on one monitor screen width.
		An important finding was that where the presenting rhythm was asystole, 19% of patients were discharged from hospital, representing 30.8% of those who had restoration of spontaneous circulation.
	www.kfshrc.edu.sa /annals/183/97-097r.html (1981 words)

	•Ä‘“Á—öJö•ñ 20040172066 - Subcutaneous cardiac stimulator employing post-shock transthoracic ... (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-04)
		A pacing therapy is transthoracicly delivered to terminate detected cardiac asystole using residual energy from a defibrillation energy storage source.
		The residual energy usable for the pacing therapy is sufficient to transthoracicly deliver at least one pacing pulse, and is typically sufficient to deliver a series of pacing pulses, prior to depletion of the defibrillation energy storage source.
		Detection of cardiac asystole is performed following delivery of each pacing pulse, and subcutaneous pacing support is terminated in response to detecting cardiac asystole termination.
	cxp.paterra.com /jp/uspregrant20040172066.html (133 words)

	Talk:Asystole - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		"Recognizing the dismal rate of survival for collapsed individuals found in asystole...
		Rescuers are advised to consider the quality of resuscitation effort thus far, if atypical or special clinical features exist, and if there is support for withholding or stopping resuscitation efforts outside the hospital.
		If an adequate resuscitation effort has been made, and unusual circumstances (such as hypothermia, drug overdose, or drowning) are not present, persistent asystole indicates a confirmation of death rather than a treatable cardiac arrest rhythm.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Talk:Asystole (118 words)

	PedsCCM: EB Journal Club Review (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-04)
		Patients who presented with pulseless electrical activity or asystole underwent randomisation immediately; patients with ventricular fibrillation were randomised after the first three attempts of defibrillation had failed.
		Patients in asystole, however, were more likely to survive to hospital admission and to hospital discharge if they were treated with vasopressin than if they had received epinephrine as initial therapy.
		The study demonstrated superior effect of vasopressin compared with epinephrine in patients with asystole and asystole is the most common presenting rhythm in pediatric cardiopulmonary arrest (1).
	pedsccm.wustl.edu /EBJ/THERAPY/Wenzel-arrest.html (1272 words)

	Resuscitation Council UK Adult Advanced Life Support (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-04)
		If apparent asystole or PEA occurs directly after delivery of a shock the rhythm and pulse should be rechecked after just one minute of CPR and before any further drugs are given.
		If asystole or PEA is confirmed, appropriate drugs are given and a further two minutes of CPR is given to complete the loop.
		Whenever a diagnosis of asystole is made, the ECG should be checked carefully for the presence of P waves or slow ventricular activity because this may respond to cardiac pacing.
	www.resus.org.uk /pages/als.htm (2626 words)

	asystole
		Grep of noun asystole asystole Overview of noun asystole The noun asystole has 1 sense (no senses from tagged texts) 1.
		asystole, cardiac arrest, cardiopulmonary arrest -- (absence of systole ; failure of the ventricles of the heart to contract (usually caused by ventricular fibrillation) with consequent absence of the heart beat leading to oxygen lack and eventually to death) Overview of noun asystole The noun asystole has 1 sense (no senses from tagged texts) 1.
		asystole, cardiac arrest, cardiopulmonary arrest -- (absence of systole ; failure of the ventricles of the heart to contract (usually caused by ventricular fibrillation) with consequent absence of the heart beat leading to oxygen lack and eventually to death)
	www.beetfoundation.com /words/a/alt.asystole.html (178 words)

	Pacemakers could protect patients with epilepsy from sudden unexplained death
		Four patients had bradycardia or periods of asystole (cardiac inactivity) and were given permanent pacemaker insertion.
		Asystole underlies a proportion of sudden unexpected deaths in epilepsy, which could be prevented by cardiac-pacemaker insertion."
		In an accompanying commentary (p 2157), Lawrence J Hirsch and W Allen Houser (Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York City, USA) consider the present study an important step forward but caution that it is too early to change clinical practice until larger confirmatory studies are conclusive.
	www.eurekalert.org /pub_releases/2004-12/l-cp121504.php (376 words)

	Merck Vet. Edition - Arrhythmias of Cardiac Arrest
		Asystole appears as a flat line on the ECG and suggests complete absence of electrical activity.
		Many arrhythmias that appear to be asystole are, in fact, fine ventricular fibrillation.
		For this reason, open-chest heart massage and direct observation of myocardial activity is warranted early with this arrhythmia.
	www.merckvetmanual.com /mvm/htm/bc/160307.htm (418 words)

	Asystole - Medical Dictionary definitions of popular medical terms
		Asystole: A dire form of cardiac arrest in which the heart stops beating -- there is no systole -- and there is no electrical activity in the heart.
		In the past the asystolic heart usually could not be restarted.
		However, in 2004 people with asystole were reported to be three times as likely to survive if they are given an a injection of a hormone called vasopressin than if they receive adrenaline alone.
	www.medterms.com /script/main/art.asp?articlekey=26020 (203 words)

	Abstract Number 16 (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-04)
		Bradley L. Bufkin, John D. Puskas, Jakob Vinten-Johansen, Steven T. Shearer, and Robert A. Guyton, Atlanta, GA Early graft failure is greater in minimally invasive direct coronary artery bypass (MIDCAB) compared to conventional bypass operations, due in part to the difficulty of operating on a moving heart.
		In contrast, pharmacotherapy potentiated asystole (52±6 seconds) induced by 60 second stimuli, without significant change in post-stimulus heart rate (91±8 vs 87±7 mmHg), mean arterial pressure (86±6 vs 92±6 mmHg), or left ventricular dP/dt max (3032±182 vs 3223±212 mmHg/sec) and end-diastolic pressure (5.8±1.0 vs 6.0±0.8 mmHg).
		This operator-induced asystole may be useful in facilitating ease and precision of surgical procedures in MIDCAB operations.
	www.sts.org /doc/1620 (279 words)

	Current concepts in the management of cardiac arrest (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-04)
		Further interventions depend on which of asystole, ventricular fibrillation or electromechanical dissociation is present.
		It is worthwhile switching through the various leads on the monitor as a low amplitude VF in one lead may be misinterpreted as asystole.
		Adrenaline is not a specific treatment for asystole or ventricular fibrillation, but it does increase the effectiveness of life support.
	www.australianprescriber.com /magazines/vol20no2/cardiac.htm (2537 words)

	Incidence of Asystole in Electroconvulsive Therapy in Elderly Patients -- Burd and Kettl 6 (3): 203 -- American Journal ... (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-04)
		Incidence of Asystole in Electroconvulsive Therapy in Elderly Patients
		asystole were significantly younger (average age, 72.2) than
		Asystole is a common side effect of ECT in
	ajgp.psychiatryonline.org /cgi/content/abstract/6/3/203 (215 words)

	Fraternal Order of Paramedics & EMT's Society Forums - Asystole and Apnic
		To his benifit he caught the asystole on his monitor before the man woke up, and was able to prove it to us.
		I had a shooting a while back that the guy kept coding on me, would go from ST to Asystole, I would grab an EPI and before I could get it un-capped, he would go back to ST with a pulse.
		He would go Asystolic and a fireman would do a couple chest compressions and boom, a pulse would be back and he would start breathing again.
	www.foops.org /forum/showthread.php?t=1370 (795 words)

	Changes in arterial blood gases following cardiac asystole during fetal life -- Nakamura et al. 70 (1): 16 -- ... (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-04)
		A case of suspected fetal cardiac asystole with normal umbilical cord blood gas values is reported.
		Possible explanations of this apparent discrepancy were examined by measuring sequential changes in fetal arterial acid-base and blood gas values after induced cardiac asystole in chronically instrumented fetal lambs at 132-141 days' gestation.
		Therefore, we conclude that sudden fetal cardiac asystole occurring within ten minutes of delivery may be one reason why umbilical cord acid-base and blood gas values do not correlate with Apgar scores.
	www.greenjournal.org /cgi/content/abstract/70/1/16 (179 words)

	MSN Encarta - Search Results - Asystole
		Asystole, the failure of the heart to beat.
		Search Amazon.com for books about your topic, "Asystole"
		Exclusively for MSN Encarta Premium Subscribers--quickly search thousands of articles from magazines such as Time, Newsweek, The Atlantic Monthly, and Smithsonian.
	encarta.msn.com /Asystole.html (95 words)

	asystole in paediatric ALS - General Practice Notebook (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-04)
		The diagnosis of asystole is made in a pulseless patient on an ECG machine where the leads are correctly connected and the gain is fully turned up.
		Asystole is the most common arrest rhythm in infancy and childhood and is usually the final common pathway of respiratory or circulatory failure.
		Oxbridge Solutions Ltd® is an independent company owned by the authors which does not receive income from any other organisation or individual.
	www.gpnotebook.co.uk /cache/-670695368.htm (165 words)

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