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    Asystole

    Asystole is a topic covered in the 5-Minute Emergency Consult.

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    Emergency Central

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    Basics

    Description

    Absence of ventricular electrical activity

    Etiology

    • An end-stage rhythm, sometimes degrading from:
      • Prolonged bradycardia
      • Prolonged ventricular fibrillation (VF)
      • Prolonged pulseless electrical activity
    • Patient is extremely unlikely to survive when asystole occurs outside the hospital:
      • ∼40% will have return of spontaneous circulation and survive to hospital admission, but <15% survive to hospital discharge.
    • Prognosis is similarly poor for those patients who develop asystole after countershock for ventricular tachycardia/VF; <10% survive to hospital discharge.
    • Potentially reversible causes include:
      • Hypoxia
      • Hypovolemia (blood loss)
      • Acidosis
      • Hyperkalemia
      • Hypokalemia
      • Drug overdose
      • Hypothermia
      • Pulmonary embolism
      • Myocardial infarction
      • Tension pneumothorax
      • Cardiac tamponade

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    Citation

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    TY - ELEC T1 - Asystole ID - 307503 ED - Barkin,Adam Z, ED - Barkin,Roger M, ED - Hayden,Stephen R, ED - Rosen,Peter, ED - Schaider,Jeffrey J, ED - Shayne,Philip, ED - Wolfe,Richard E, BT - 5-Minute Emergency Consult UR - https://emergency.unboundmedicine.com/emergency/view/5-Minute_Emergency_Consult/307503/all/Asystole PB - Lippincott Williams & Wilkins ET - 5 DB - Emergency Central DP - Unbound Medicine ER -