Background and Purpose--Recently 2 randomized trials in comatose survivors of cardiac arrest documented that therapeutic hypothermia improved neurological recovery. The narrow inclusion criteria resulted in an international recommendation to cool only a restricted group of primary cardiac arrest survivors. In this retrospective cohort study we investigated the efficacy and safety of endovascular cooling in unselected survivors of cardiac arrest.

Methods--Consecutive comatose survivors of cardiac arrest, who were either cooled for 24 hours to 33°C with endovascular cooling or treated with standard postresuscitation therapy, were analyzed. Complication data were obtained by retrospective chart review.

Results--Patients in the endovascular cooling group had 2-fold increased odds of survival (67/97 patients versus 466/941 patients; odds ratio 2.28, 95% CI, 1.45 to 3.57; P<0.001). After adjustment for baseline imbalances the odds ratio was 1.96 (95% CI, 1.19 to 3.23; P=0.008). When discounting the observational data in a Bayesian analysis by using a sceptical prior the posterior odds ratio was 1.61 (95% credible interval, 1.06 to 2.44). In the endovascular cooling group, 51/97 patients (53%) survived with favorable neurology as compared with 320/941 (34%) in the control group (odds ratio 2.15, 95% CI, 1.38 to 3.35; P=0.0003; adjusted odds ratio 2.56, 1.57 to 4.17). There was no difference in the rate of complications except for bradycardia.

Conclusion--Endovascular cooling improved survival and short-term neurological recovery compared with standard treatment in comatose adult survivors of cardiac arrest. Temperature control was effective and safe with this device.