Possibilities of organ protection after global ischemia during cardiac arrest.

Successful cardiopulmonary resuscitation is the first step to rescue life during cardiac arrest. High mortality even after successful restoration of spontaneous circulation is substantially caused by patophysiological process associated with ischemia-reperfusion injury and it is widely called post-cardiac arrest syndrome (PCAS). There are many patophysiological mechanisms involved in the development and progress of this syndrom; the key role seems to play oxidative stress, triggering the activation cascade of systemic inflammatory reaction. In our study we have tested different possibilities of influencing the post-cardiac arrest syndrom. In the first experimental study we have compared the effect of mild therapeutic hypothermia with controlled normothermia on PCAS in a porcine model of cardiac arrest. In the second study we have compared in the same model the protective effects of mild therapeutic hypothermia, administration of nitric oxide and ischemic postconditioning. Results of the first experiment have revealed that mild therapeutic hypotermia is superior in the resuscitability, maintenance of blood pressure, oxidative stress suppression and organ damage protection than controlled normothermia. In the second experiment we have shown that neither nitric oxide administration, nor ischemic..