A ground-breaking study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, conducted by researchers from Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia, and Germany, has raised a challenging question — In the event of severe injury, would individuals want to receive a treatment .
Most patients who achieve return of spontaneous circulation after an out-of-hospital
cardiac arrest require assisted ventilation with inspired oxygen during transportation
to hospital. The standard practice is to provide a fraction of inspired oxygen of
100% until arrival at an emergency department; however, some studies have suggested
that administering a high fraction of oxygen soon after a cardiac arrest might cause
hypoxia and increase reperfusion neurological injury. Stephen A Bernard (Ambulance
Victoria, Doncaster, VIC, Australia) and colleagues undertook the EXACT randomised
trial in two emergency medical services and 15 hospitals in Australia over nearly
3 years to assess whether aiming for a lower oxygen saturation target in the out-of-hospital
setting immediately following resuscitation from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest would
improve survival at hospital discharge.