Abstract

A short-cut review was carried out to establish whether adrenaline use during cardiac arrest improves long-term survival. A total of 209 papers was found using the reported search, of which seven represented the best evidence to answer the clinical question. The author, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes, results and study weaknesses of these best papers are tabulated. The clinical bottom line is that the evidence is strong for improved short-term survival when adrenaline administered during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) (return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) and/or survival to hospital admission), but may be associated with worse long-term survival and neurological outcome.