Workshop Executive Summary Report: Post-Resuscitative and Initial Utility in Life Saving Efforts (PULSE)

Abstract

The Post-Resuscitative and Initial Utility in Life Saving Efforts (PULSE) workshop was convened in recognition of the estimated loss of >1000 useful lives each day in the United States as a result of poor cardiopulmonary and trauma resuscitation outcomes. The purpose of the workshop was to provide an interdisciplinary forum on promising and novel life-saving therapies in settings of cardiac, hypoxemic, and traumatic arrest and to identify the most promising new directions in cardiopulmonary and trauma resuscitation research. It was organized under a multiagency initiative supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) of the National Institutes of Health, together with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), each within the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and the Department of Defense (DOD). The workshop, which was held in the Lansdowne Conference Center in Leesburg, Virginia from June 29 to 30, 2000, provided the unique opportunity to convene domestic and international experts to chart a new course for future resuscitation research. Conference participants believed that the world stands at the verge of new therapies and technologies that could save thousands of lives that are currently lost after traumatic injury and circulatory or hypoxemic arrest. Two broad strategies should be aggressively pursued. First, existing therapies known to restore circulation, shorten the period of ischemia, and save lives should be refined to allow more rapid and more widespread deployment. Earlier and better cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), rapid defibrillation, and early control of hemorrhage will lead to immediate improvement in survival. Second, basic and applied research with the goal of identifying new therapies to minimize global ischemic insults should be expanded. Participants were optimistic …