6/28/23, 11:00 PM HACA Pathway Feedback Search Clinical Topics Home Studies HACA HACA Disease Disease Cardiac arrest Ventricular arrhythmias Trial question Is hypothermia superior to normothermia in patients who have been successfully resuscitated after cardiac arrest due to VF? Study design Multi-center Double blinded RCT Population Characteristics of study participants 24.0% female N = 275 76.0% male 275 patients (65 female, 210 male) Inclusion criteria: patients who have been successfully resuscitated after cardiac arrest due to VF Key exclusion criteria: a tympanic-membrane temperature below 30 C on admission, a comatose state before the cardiac arrest, pregnancy, a terminal illness that preceded the arrest, or a known preexisting coagulopathy Interventions N=136 therapeutic hypothermia (target temperature, 32 C to 34 C, measured in the bladder over a period of 24 hours) N=137 normothermia (standard treatment and maintenance of normothermia) Primary outcome Favorable neurologic outcome https://web.pathway.md/studies/recxZlYVGmaXmSngO 1/2 6/28/23, 11:00 PM HACA Pathway 55.0 % 55 41.3 % 39 27.5 % Significant increase 13.8 % NNT = 6 0.0 % Therapeutic hypothermia Normothermia Significant increase in favorable neurologic outcome (55% vs. 39%; RR 1.4, 95% CI 1.08 to 1.81) Secondary outcomes Significant decrease in death at 6 months (41% vs. 55%; RR 0.74, 95% CI 0.58 to 0.95) Safety outcomes No significant difference in complication rate. Conclusion In patients who have been successfully resuscitated after cardiac arrest due to VF, therapeutic hypothermia was superior to normothermia with respect to favorable neurologic outcome. Reference HACA Study Group. Mild therapeutic hypothermia to improve the neurologic outcome after cardiac arrest. N Engl J Med. 2002 Feb 21;346(8):549-56. Open reference URL https://web.pathway.md/studies/recxZlYVGmaXmSngO 2/2