Erythropoietin facilitates the return of spontaneous circulation and survival in victims of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest

Background

Erythropoietin activates potent protective mechanisms in non-hematopoietic tissues including the myocardium. In a rat model of ventricular fibrillation, erythropoietin preserved myocardial compliance enabling hemodynamically more effective CPR.

Objective

To investigate whether intravenous erythropoietin given within 2 min of physician-led CPR improves outcome from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

Methods

Erythropoietin (90,000 IU of beta-epoetin, n = 24) was compared prospectively with 0.9% NaCl (concurrent controls = 30) and retrospectively with a preceding group treated with similar protocol (matched controls = 48).

Results

Compared with concurrent controls, the erythropoietin group had higher rates of ICU admission (92% vs 50%, p = 0.004), return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) (92% vs 53%, p = 0.006), 24-h survival (83% vs 47%, p = 0.008), and hospital survival (54% vs 20%, p = 0.011). However, after adjusting for pretreatment covariates only ICU admission and ROSC remained statistically significant. Compared with matched controls, the erythropoietin group had higher rates of ICU admission (92% vs 65%, p = 0.024) and 24-h survival (83% vs 52%, p = 0.014) with statistically insignificant higher ROSC (92% vs 71%, p = 0.060) and hospital survival (54% vs 31%, p = 0.063). However, after adjusting for pretreatment covariates all four outcomes were statistically significant. End-tidal PCO₂ (an estimate of blood flow during chest compression) was higher in the erythropoietin group.

Conclusions

Erythropoietin given during CPR facilitates ROSC, ICU admission, 24-h survival, and hospital survival. This effect was consistent with myocardial protection leading to hemodynamically more effective CPR (Trial registration: http://isrctn.org. Identifier: ISRCTN67856342).