Sodium Nitrite Disappoints in Cardiac Arrest
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Among patients who had an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, intravenous sodium nitrite given by paramedics during resuscitation did not significantly improve their chances of being admitted to or discharged from the hospital alive. The study was presented at the recent "virtual" American College of Cardiology 2020 Scientific Session (ACC.20)/World Congress of Cardiology (WCC). Lead investigator Francis Kim, MD, professor of medicine at the University of Washington, Seattle, explained that sodium nitrate is an antioxidant; animal studies have suggested that under conditions of hypoxia, it is converted into the vasodilator nitric oxide, which can increase blood flow to the brain and heart tissues. In animal models of cardiac arrest, the use of sodium nitrite during resuscitation increased survival by almost 50%.
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@ashish Results showed no statistically significant differences between the groups who received placebo, low-dose sodium nitrite, or high-dose sodium nitrite on survival to hospital admission (the primary endpoint) or on hospital discharge (the secondary endpoint). There was also no difference in either endpoint in the subgroup with ventricular fibrillation.