Transesophageal Echocardiography During CPR in Patients With Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest: The EXECT-CPR Randomized...

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) guidelines recommend chest compressions at the lower half of the sternum. This may lead to aortic valve compression, which is associated with poor outcomes, while compressions over the left ventricle are seldom achieved.

To test the hypothesis that transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) guidance during CPR to avoid aortic valve compression and target the left ventricle would improve outcomes in patients with nontraumatic out-of-hospital cardiac arrest compared with conventional CPR.

This cluster-randomized clinical trial (the EXECT-CPR study) was conducted from June 26 to November 19, 2023, at 1 tertiary medical center in Taiwan. Participants were adults who consecutively presented to the emergency department (ED) with nontraumatic out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Exclusion criteria were prehospital return of spontaneous circulation, extracorporeal CPR, contraindications to TEE, prior do-not-resuscitate orders, and obvious signs of death. Complete blinding was not feasible; the allocation schedule was disclosed only to the principal investigator.

Post-ED arrival CPR at TEE-guided (avoid aortic-valve compression and target the left ventricle) or guideline-recommended (the lower half of the sternum) site.

The primary outcome was a sustained return of spontaneous circulation (≥20 minutes). Secondary outcomes were any return of spontaneous circulation, survival to intensive care unit admission, survival to hospital discharge, cerebral performance category of 2 or lower at discharge, and intra-CPR end-tidal carbon dioxide levels.

A total of 132 patients underwent randomization (66 in each group; median [IQR] age, 68 [55-74] years; 87 [66%] male). The primary outcome was similar between groups (TEE-guided group, 29 [44%]; conventional group, 26 [39%]; cluster-adjusted odds ratio, 1.21; 95% CI, 0.64-2.29). The secondary outcomes also did not significantly differ, except for higher intra-CPR end-tidal carbon dioxide levels in the TEE-guided group during the 11th to 20th minutes after arrival. Adverse event rates related to TEE and CPR were comparable.

In this randomized clinical trial among adults transported to the emergency department with ongoing CPR for nontraumatic out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, TEE-guided CPR with an adjusted compression site after arrival did not significantly improve clinical outcomes compared with conventional CPR, although it produced potential hemodynamic benefits without increasing adverse events. Given that the trial was underpowered due to optimistic effect size assumptions, these neutral findings should be interpreted with caution.

ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT05907460.