Complete recovery after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest with prolonged (59 min) mechanical cardiopulmonary resuscitation, mild therapeutic hypothermia and complex percutaneous coronary intervention for ST-elevation myocardial infarction

We report on a 68 years old survivor of an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest with favorable neurological outcome following prolonged cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR 59 min) until return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) due to ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). The case demonstrates the beneficial effect of an optimal rescue chain including basic life support performed by trained bystanders, short response time of the emergency medical service, uninterrupted CPR during transportation using a mechanical chest compression system (LUCAS®), in combination with optimal intensive care management of cardiogenic shock after ROSC including multivessel emergency percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and intravascular therapeutic hypothermia (Coolgard®-System).