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Thursday, November 12, 2009

Impedance Threshold Device

A recent big development in the management of cardiac arrest. For years, our service has used an impedance threshold device. The science seems logical, the animal studies were promising and many of the long-term clinicians that I work with swear the device is the cause of increased patient survival. The problem is, the ROC study just decided to discontinue the portion assessing the ITD. They showed no improvement in patient outcomes after 11,500 cases.
www.nih.gov/news/health/nov2009/nhlbi-06.htm

We are yet to throw all of them away. As with any science in medicine, there is always more than one opinion and more research will come up supporting the device and it's use.

Certainly, this study is impressive. There are a lot of victims enrolled which sets it apart from many studies regarding cardiac arrest.

My opinion: I am going to continue to supports its use. There is no evidence is does harm and I am convinced it is improving our outcomes.