Successful Target Temperature Management After Cardiac Arrest: A Case Report and a Review of the Literature

A 20-year-old female was admitted to the hospital after a successful resuscitation from a cardiac arrest due to ventricular fibrillation. She had no prior medical history. The patient was rescued from her house, brought to the hospital with sinus rhythm, sedated, in a coma. Electrocardiography showed no modifications other than the ventricular extrasystoles. Computed tomography showed an epicranian hematoma from the fall that occurred during the cardiac arrest, a heart with a thickened interventricular septum, and the other organs being within physiological limits. Magnetic resonance imaging showed late hypoxic leukoencephalopathy with a level of the white matter of the semioval centers, radiating corona, splenium corpus callosum, and internal capsular posterior arm with extension to the cerebral peduncles. The patient achieved a good neurological outcome with target temperature management and had small neurological improvements every day after resuming spontaneous breathing. After a long intensive care and hospitalization period of six weeks, she was discharged, able to resume her societal status and be a fully recovered individual.