Cardiac arrest – Midway between two guidelines: From an anaesthesiologist's point of view

SummaryCardiac arrest is singly one of the most important conditions to recognize and treat well. In order to ensure the optimal treatment and uniform implementation worldwide, guidelines are published every fifth year. A considerable amount of research is done, and although there have been advances, there is always room for improvement. Prospective studies of cardiac arrest in humans are extremely difficult to conduct, especially randomised studies, and the number of patients involved in the studies is sparse. This paper provides updated available information on cardiac arrest, as well as a discussion of recommendations, based on the guidelines published in November 2005 by the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation.