No Resuscitative Thoracotomy? When to Stop Chest Compressions After Prehospital Traumatic Cardiac Arrest

Although indications and outcomes for trauma patients who require resuscitative thoracotomies are well studied, little is known about how prehospital chest compressions support survival in patients who do not meet criteria for subsequent resuscitative thoracotomy.

Data from a single institutional retrospective review of trauma patients who required prehospital chest compressions from 1/2015 to 12/2020 were collected. Patients who underwent compressions only were compared to those who underwent subsequent resuscitative thoracotomy. The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality.

Fifty-two patients were identified, 22 of whom underwent compressions only and 30 of whom went on to undergo thoracotomy. Patients who underwent compressions only were more likely to be female (36% vs 10%, P = .04), older (mean 46 vs 35 years, P = .04), and to experience blunt trauma (78% vs 43%, P = .01). Injury severity score was similar between the cohorts (mean 18 vs 28, P = .11). One patient in the compressions only cohort had a REBOA placed compared to two in the thoracotomy cohort (1.9% vs 3.67%, P > .99). Return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) was achieved in 17% of the compressions only cohort compared to 45% of the thoracotomy cohort (P = .03). In-hospital mortality in the compressions only cohort was 100%, whereas in-hospital mortality in the thoracotomy cohort was 94% (P = .50), with a mean of zero survival days in both groups (P = .33).

Prehospital chest compressions without thoracotomy were uniformly fatal, even if transient ROSC was obtained. Our findings support termination of chest compressions for those trauma patients who do not meet criteria for resuscitative thoracotomy.