BackgroundPerioperative cardiac arrest is a rare complication with an
incidence of around 1 in 1400 cases, but it carries a high burden of
mortality reaching up to 70% at 30 days. Despite its specificities,
guidelines for treatment of perioperative cardiac arrest are lacking.
Gathering the available literature may improve quality of care and
outcome of patients.MethodsThe PERIOPCA Task Force identified major
clinical questions about the management of perioperative cardiac arrest
and framed them into the therapy population [P], intervention [I],
comparator [C], and outcome [O] (PICO) format. Systematic searches
of PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library for articles published until
September 2020 were performed. Consensus-based treatment recommendations
were created using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment,
Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) system. The strength of consensus
among the Task Force members about the recommendations was assessed
through a modified Delphi consensus process.ResultsTwenty-two PICO
questions were addressed, and the recommendations were validated in two
Delphi rounds. A summary of evidence for each outcome is reported and
accompanied by an overall assessment of the evidence to guide healthcare
providers.ConclusionsThe main limitations of our work lie in the
scarcity of good quality evidence on this topic. Still, these
recommendations provide a basis for decision making, as well as a guide
for future research on perioperative cardiac arrest