LAUSR

A randomised trial of use of adrenaline in patients who have a cardiac arrest outside hospital leaves paramedics with a dilemma. More patients were alive 30 days after their hearts had been restarted with adrenaline, but their chances of serious brain damage were almost doubled, show the findings, reported in the New England Journal of Medicine .1 The finding is likely to lead to a change in guidelines for treating cardiac arrest, though the trial’s lead author, Gavin Perkins of Warwick University, was reluctant to commit himself. Speaking at a briefing at the Science Media Centre in London, Perkins said it would need a broader consideration of the findings by bodies such as the …