Niklas Nielsen, Jørn Wetterslev, Tobias Cronberg, David Erlinge, Yvan Gasche, Christian Hassager, Janneke Horn, Jan Hovdenes, Jesper Kjaergaard, Michael Kuiper, Tommaso Pellis, Pascal Stammet, Michael Wanscher, Matt P Wise, Anders Åneman, Nawaf Al-Subaie, Søren Boesgaard, John Bro-Jeppesen, Iole Brunetti, Jan Frederik Bugge, Christopher D Hingston, Nicole P Juffermans, Matty Koopmans, Lars Køber, Jørund Langørgen, Gisela Lilja, Jacob Eifer Møller, Malin Rundgren, Christian Rylander, Ondrej Smid, Christophe Werer, Per Winkel, Hans Friberg
BACKGROUND: Unconscious survivors of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest have a high risk of death or poor neurologic function. Therapeutic hypothermia is recommended by international guidelines, but the supporting evidence is limited, and the target temperature associated with the best outcome is unknown. Our objective was to compare two target temperatures, both intended to prevent fever. METHODS: In an international trial, we randomly assigned 950 unconscious adults after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest of presumed cardiac cause to targeted temperature management at either 33°C or 36°C...
December 5, 2013: New England Journal of Medicine