Coronary Angiography after Cardiac Arrest — The Right Timing or the Right Patients?

The treatment of patients who are comatose after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest involves a complex, multidisciplinary approach that includes the use of targeted temperature management, aggressive hemodynamic management, electroencephalographic monitoring, and consideration of coronary angiography.1 However, studies suggest that despite these interventions, 30 to 50% of these patients die before hospital discharge, and a substantial percentage of long-term survivors have neurologic and cardiac sequelae.2,3 Although clinically significant coronary disease is common in patients who have cardiac arrest,4 the selection of patients for coronary angiography remains controversial. The general consensus is that comatose patients who have had cardiac arrest with evidence of . . .