Targeted temperature management after cardiac arrest

Abstract

Actively avoiding fever is the only possibility to improve neurological outcome after cardiac arrest. It is uncertain if and which patients benefit from a lower target temperature. The ERC Guidelines in 2021 recommended targeted temperature management (TTM) for all patients after in- and out-of-hospital cardiac arrest with a target temperature of 32-36 °C for at least 24 hours. These recommendations were updated in 2022 by the ERC/ESICM Guidelines suggesting to avoid fever only within the first 72 hours after the event. Divergent results of recent trials lead to these guideline changes. The large TTM2 Trial in 2021 did not show a benefit neither in survival nor in neurological outcome in the group of hypothermia at 33°C compared to normothermia. Although leading to the updated guidelines, applying these study results to the German population is restricted as the rate of bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) or shockable rhythms is much lower in Germany. Further studies are needed to allow a better differentiation of subpopulations and to implement a more individual classification und therapy.