Abstract 101: Prehospital High-Dose Methylprednisolone Treatment Reduces Norepinephrine Need Following Resuscitated Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest

Abstract

Background: Resuscitated out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) patients are hemodynamically unstable and have high mortality. Norepinephrine (NE) is recommended to maintain mean arterial pressure (MAP) above 65 mmHg, but excessive NE use, and a continuously low MAP are both associated with poor outcomes in OHCA. The glucocorticoid methylprednisolone (MP) has anti-inflammatory properties and may increase arterial sensitivity to NE, thereby improving MAP and reducing NE need. Aims: To determine if prehospital anti-inflammatory MP treatment could lower the need for NE without affecting MAP values following OHCA. Methods: The STEROHCA trial was a randomized, blinded, placebo-controlled, multicenter study, including adult comatose patients resuscitated from OHCA due to presumed cardiac etiology, and with a minimum of five minutes of return of spontaneous circulation. The intervention was intravenous MP 250 mg or placebo, administered prehospitally. In this sub-study, we repeatedly measured NE dose and MAP from admission until 48h and compared differences between the two groups at each time point. Results: In the STEROHCA trial, 137 patients were randomized to MP (n=68) or placebo (n=69). Patients were mainly male (85%) with a median age of 66 years (IQR 56, 75). The MP group demonstrated significantly lower NE use (mcg/kg/min) at 24h (0.22 (0.15; 0.31) vs. 0.38 (0.28; 0.49), p=0.02), 42h (0.13 (0.07; 0.20) vs. 0.25 (0.17; 0.35), p=0.03), and 48h (0.08 (0.03; 0.15) vs. 0.23 (0.15; 0.33), p=0.004), Figure 1 . We observed a higher MAP in the MP group with significantly higher MAP values (mmHg) at 6h (75 (72; 78) vs. 70 (67; 73), p=0.03), 12h (75 (71; 78) vs. 69 (66; 72), p=0.01), 18h (76 (73; 79) vs. 69 (66; 72), p=0.003), 24h (77 (74; 80) vs. 71 (68; 74), p=0.01), and 48h (86 (82; 89) vs. 79 (76; 82), p=0.004), Figure 1 . Conclusions: Prehospital treatment with high-dose MP reduced the need for NE while improving MAP values in resuscitated OHCA patients for the initial 48h of admission.