Cardiac arrest often strikes seemingly healthy individuals without warning and without regard to age, gender, race, or health status. Representing the third leading cause of death in the United States, cardiac arrest is defined as "a severe malfunction or cessation of the electrical and mechanical activity of the heart ... [which] results in almost instantaneous loss of consciousness and collapse". Although the exact number of cardiac arrests is unknown, conservative estimates suggest that approximately 600,000 individuals experience a cardiac arrest in the United States each year. In June 2015, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released its consensus report Strategies to Improve Cardiac Arrest Survival: A Time to Act, which evaluated the factors affecting resuscitation research and outcomes in the United States. Following the release of this report, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine was asked to hold a workshop to explore the barriers and opportunities for advancing the IOM recommendations. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.

Cardiac arrest can strike a seemingly healthy individual of any age, race, ethnicity, or gender at any time in any location, often without warning. Cardiac arrest is the third leading cause of death in the United States, following cancer and heart disease. Four out of five cardiac arrests occur in the home, and more than 90 percent of individuals with cardiac arrest die before reaching the hospital. First and foremost, cardiac arrest treatment is a community issue - local resources and personnel must provide appropriate, high-quality care to save the life of a community member. Time between onset of arrest and provision of care is fundamental, and shortening this time is one of the best ways to reduce the risk of death and disability from cardiac arrest. Specific actions can be implemented now to decrease this time, and recent advances in science could lead to new discoveries in the causes of, and treatments for, cardiac arrest. However, specific barriers must first be addressed. Strategies to Improve Cardiac Arrest Survival examines the complete system of response to cardiac arrest in the United States and identifies opportunities within existing and new treatments, strategies, and research that promise to improve the survival and recovery of patients. The recommendations of Strategies to Improve Cardiac Arrest Survival provide high-priority actions to advance the field as a whole. This report will help citizens, government agencies, and private industry to improve health outcomes from sudden cardiac arrest across the United States.

Cardiac arrest often strikes seemingly healthy individuals without warning and without regard to age, gender, race, or health status. Representing the third leading cause of death in the United States, cardiac arrest is defined as "a severe malfunction or cessation of the electrical and mechanical activity of the heart ... [which] results in almost instantaneous loss of consciousness and collapse". Although the exact number of cardiac arrests is unknown, conservative estimates suggest that approximately 600,000 individuals experience a cardiac arrest in the United States each year. In June 2015, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released its consensus report Strategies to Improve Cardiac Arrest Survival: A Time to Act, which evaluated the factors affecting resuscitation research and outcomes in the United States. Following the release of this report, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine was asked to hold a workshop to explore the barriers and opportunities for advancing the IOM recommendations. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.

Sudden cardiac arrest can strike anyone at any time. But in many cities, people who suffer sudden cardiac arrest are up to 46 times more likely to die than those who experience cardiac arrest in Seattle and King County, Washington, or Rochester, Minnesota--an astonishing and completely preventable variance in survival rates.

This book presents a valuable new perspective on Post-Cardiac Arrest Syndrome (PCAS), which was defined as system failure following whole-body ischemia-reperfusion injuries by the 2008 International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation. Recently, improving the survival rate of PCAS has become a major priority all over the world. A Perspective on Post-Cardiac Arrest Syndrome addresses various aspects, including: neurological outcomes in non-convulsive status epilepticus, target temperature management, interventions for PCAS after acute coronary syndrome, the significance of measuring lactate clearance, a specific scoring system in prognostication for PCAS, therapeutic indications for suicide hanging cases. This book will help a broad readership, including emergency physicians, intensivists, cardiologists and neurologists treating PCAS patients, to understand the history, current issues and future challenges in PCAS, presented by respected experts in this field.

Erasing Death: The Science That Is Rewriting the Boundaries Between Life and Death reveals that death is not a moment in time. Death, rather, is a process—a process that can be interrupted well after it has begun. Innovative techniques have proven to be effective in revitalizing both the body and mind, but they are only employed in approximately half of the hospitals throughout the United States and Europe. Dr. Sam Parnia, Director of the AWARE Study (AWAreness during REsuscitation) and one of the world’s leading experts on the scientific study of death and near-death experiences (NDE), presents cutting-edge research from the front lines of critical care and resuscitation medicine while also shedding light on the ultimate mystery: What happens to human consciousness during and after death? Dr. Parnia reveals how some form of “afterlife” may be uniquely ours, as evidenced by the continuation of the human mind and psyche after the brain stops functioning. With physicians such as Dr. Parnia at the forefront, we are on the verge of discovering a new universal science of consciousness that reveals the nature of mind and a future where death is not the final defeat, but is, in fact, reversible.