The goal of therapy for bradycardia or tachycardia is to rapidly identify and treat patients who are hemodynamically unstable or symptomatic due to the arrhythmia. Drugs or, when appropriate, pacing may be used to control unstable or symptomatic bradycardia. Cardioversion or drugs or both may be used to control unstable or symptomatic tachycardia. ACLS providers should closely monitor stable patients pending expert consultation and should be prepared to aggressively treat those with evidence of decompensation.

/pdf/part-8-adult-advanced-cardiovascular-life-support-2010-344vtppnij.pdf

Part 8: Adult Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support 2010 American Heart Association Guidelines for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care

In the last decade, the importance of nicotine in maintaining smoking and in cessation difficulty has been acknowledged. Consequently, this has led to efforts to measure nicotine dependence. This paper focuses on a widely used, paper-and-pencil test of nicotine dependence- the Fagerstrom Tolerance Questionnaire (FTQ). The findings indicate that the FTQ correlates with other proposed measures of nicotine dependence (carbon monoxide, nicotine, and cotinine levels). The connection between FTQ scores and withdrawal symptoms is weak. In clinic outcome trials, the FTQ predicted success where no pharmacologic treatment was involved, while nicotine replacement appeared to mask the relation between FTQ scores and outcome. However, the FTQ may predict outcome with nicotine replacement as a function of dose. In placebo-controlled, nicotine replacement trials, FTQ scores were related to success by treatment. Problems with the FTQ are described with focus on item difficulties and analyses of the scale.

Measuring nicotine dependence: a review of the Fagerstrom Tolerance Questionnaire.

European Resuscitation Council Guidelines for Resuscitation 2015

This section of the 2010 AHA Guidelines for CPR and ECC addresses cardiac arrest in situations that require special treatments or procedures beyond those provided during basic life support (BLS) and advanced cardiovascular life support (ACLS). We have included 15 specific cardiac arrest situations. The first several sections discuss cardiac arrest associated with internal physiological or metabolic conditions, such as asthma (12.1), anaphylaxis (12.2), pregnancy (12.3), morbid obesity (12.4), pulmonary embolism (PE) (12.5), and electrolyte imbalance (12.6).

The next several sections relate to resuscitation and treatment of cardiac arrest associated with external or environmentally related circumstances, such as ingestion of toxic substances (12.7), trauma (12.8), accidental hypothermia (12.9), avalanche (12.10), drowning (12.11), and electric shock/lightning strikes (12.12).

The last 3 sections review management of cardiac arrest that may occur during special situations affecting the heart, including percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) (12.13), cardiac tamponade (12.14), and cardiac surgery (12.15).

Asthma is responsible for more than 2 million visits to the emergency department (ED) in the United States each year, with 1 in 4 patients requiring admission to a hospital.1 Annually there are 5,000 to 6,000 asthma-related deaths in the United States, many occurring in the prehospital setting.2 Severe asthma accounts for approximately 2% to 20% of admissions to intensive care units, with up to one third of these patients requiring intubation and mechanical ventilation.3 This section focuses on the evaluation and treatment of patients with near-fatal asthma.

Several consensus groups have developed excellent guidelines for the management of asthma that are available on the World Wide Web: 

### Pathophysiology

The pathophysiology of asthma consists of 3 key abnormalities: 

Complications of severe asthma, such as tension pneumothorax, lobar atelectasis, pneumonia, and pulmonary edema, can contribute to fatalities. Severe asthma exacerbations are commonly associated with …

http://www.kardio.hu/feltoltott/dokumentumok/fajl_201148105352Cardiopulm_resuscit_Pt12_Cardiac_arrest.pdf

Part 12: Cardiac Arrest in Special Situations 2010 American Heart Association Guidelines for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care

Part 8 : Advanced life support : 2010 International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Science With Treatment Recommendations

https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.110.971051

Part 8: Advanced Life Support: 2010 International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Science With Treatment Recommendations

Background The nature of the toxic gases that cause death from smoke inhalation is not known. In addition to carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide may be responsible, but its role is uncertain, because blood cyanide concentrations are often measured only long after exposure. Methods We measured cyanide concentrations in blood samples obtained at the scene of residential fires from 109 fire victims before they received any treatment. We compared the results with those in 114 persons with drug intoxication (40 subjects), carbon monoxide intoxication (29 subjects), or trauma (45 subjects). The metabolic effect of smoke inhalation was assessed by measuring plasma lactate at the time of admission to the hospital in 39 patients who did not have severe burns. Results. The mean (±SD) blood cyanide concentrations in the 66 surviving fire victims (21.6±36.4 μmol per liter, P<0.001) and the 43 victims who died (116.4±89.6 μmol per liter, P<0.001) were significantly higher than those in the 114 control subjects (5.0±5.5 ...

https://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJM199112193252502

Elevated blood cyanide concentrations in victims of smoke inhalation.

No therapy has been proved to be effective for patients with severe chloroquine poisoning, which is usually fatal. In a retrospective study of 51 cases, we found that ingestion of more than 5 g of chloroquine was an accurate predictor of a fatal outcome, and therefore chose this dose as the criterion for severe chloroquine poisoning. We selected as a control group 11 consecutive patients who had ingested more than 5 g of chloroquine between July 1983 and December 1985. We then undertook a prospective study to determine whether a better outcome could be obtained with immediate mechanical ventilation and the administration of diazepam and epinephrine. Eleven consecutive patients who ingested more than 5 g of chloroquine in 1986 received this combination therapy. Ten of these patients survived, whereas only one control had survived (P = 0.0003). There was no significant difference between the combination-therapy and control groups in age (29 +/- 3 vs. 27 +/- 2 years), amount of chloroquine ingested (7.5 +/- 0.5 vs. 8.5 +/- 0.8 g), systolic arterial pressure (74 +/- 2 vs. 74 +/- 3 mm Hg), or QRS duration (0.14 +/- 0.01 vs. 0.14 +/- 0.01 second). In our combination-therapy group, blood chloroquine levels ranged from 40 to 80 mumol per liter, whereas a literature search showed that no patient in whom blood levels were more than 25 mumol per liter had survived. These preliminary data suggest that combining early mechanical ventilation with the administration of diazepam and epinephrine may be effective in the treatment of severe chloroquine poisoning.

Treatment of severe chloroquine poisoning.

https://www.annemergmed.com/article/S0196-0644(07)00217-X/pdf

Prospective Study of Hydroxocobalamin for Acute Cyanide Poisoning in Smoke Inhalation

Nineteen trauma patients with either maxillofacial trauma or cervical spine fracture were orotracheally intubated over a guidewire percutaneously inserted through the cricothyroid membrane into the mouth in a retrograde fashion. In 13 patients, conventional techniques failed (average number of attempts 6 +/- 1, mean duration 18 +/- 1 min); in six patients, the initial method of choice was a retrograde technique. In all patients, retrograde technique succeeded on only one attempt (duration less than 5 min in all cases). No serious complication could be related to this technique; it is an easy, safe, efficacious method for difficult tracheal intubation in trauma patients.

Retrograde technique for tracheal intubation in trauma patients.

Objective: To describe various aspects of prognostic and therapeutic importance in patients treated for acute chloroquine poisoning, Design: Retrospective study, Setting: Toxicology intensive care unit (ICU) of a university hospital, interventions: None, Patients: One hundred sixty seven consecutive patients with acute chloroquine overdose admitted to our toxicology ICU, Measurements and Main Results: The mean amount ingested by history was 4.5 +/- 2.8 g, and 43 (26%) of 167 patients ingested >5 g, The mean blood chloroquine concentration on admission was 20.5 +/- 13.4 mu mol/L, The majority (87%) of our patients received at least one arm of a combination therapy regimen (epinephrine, mechanical ventilation, diazepam), Cardiac arrest occurred in 25 patients before hospital arrival; in seven of these patients, cardiac arrest occurred immediately after injection of thiopental, The mortality rate was 8.4% overall, and was 9.3% in patients with massive ingestions (NS vs. the group as a whole), We did not find a meaningful correlation between the amount ingested as estimated by history and the peak blood chloroquine concentration; the latter was highly correlated with the mortality rate, Conclusions: The mortality rate in patients with acute chloroquine poisoning, including those patients sick enough to be referred to a specialty unit such as ours, can be limited to less than or equal to 10%, This finding appears to be true even in patients with massive ingestions, We were not able to correlate mortality with amount ingested by history, although the mortality rate does correlate with blood chloroquine concentration, While early use of diazepam, epinephrine, and mechanical ventilation in most of our patients may have contributed to the excellent overall results, these elements, either singly or in combination, do not appear to have a truly antidotal effect in acute chloroquine poisoning, Thiopental, on the other hand, should be used with great caution, if at all, in such cases.

Patrick Barriot

Papers

Elevated blood cyanide concentrations in victims of smoke inhalation.

Treatment of severe chloroquine poisoning.

Prospective Study of Hydroxocobalamin for Acute Cyanide Poisoning in Smoke Inhalation

Retrograde technique for tracheal intubation in trauma patients.

Treatment of acute chloroquine poisoning : A 5-year experience