Temperature control after successful resuscitation from cardiac arrest in adults: a joint statement from the European Society for Emergency Medicine (EUSEM) and the European Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care (ESAIC)
EuSEM/ESAIC · 2023 · Europe
Source and licence
- Authors
- Wilhelm Behringer, Bernd W Böttiger, Daniele G Biasucci et al.
- Title
- Temperature control after successful resuscitation from cardiac arrest in adults: a joint statement from the European Society for Emergency Medicine (EUSEM) and the European Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care (ESAIC)
- Journal
- European Journal of Emergency Medicine, 2023
- Licence
- CC BY 4.0
- Changes
- Verbatim excerpts; formatting adapted
Full text retrieved 2026-10-27 from Europe PMC · PMC10901227
Licence statement of the original publication
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (CCBY), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
This page reproduces excerpts of the original publication; the original is authoritative. It has not been reviewed by a physician, does not state a recommendation of Medelix and does not replace medical advice. The guideline may have been updated since.
Open the original publication →Full text on Europe PMC
Recommendations
Verbatim, with grade of recommendation or strength of consensus where given.
- Recommendation 2023Some uncertainty exists as to whether hypothermia in the range of 32 to 34°C compared to normothermia is beneficial in terms of improving neurologic outcome in all patients after cardiac arrest. The current recommendations from the ERC and ESICM to merely prevent fever, in our view, neither take into account all current available evidence, nor consider the shortcomings of studies. Based on retrospective studies showing that a large proportion of patients with presumable moderate brain damage significantly benefit from hypothermia in the range of 32 to 34°C, along with the most recent Cochrane systematic review and meta-analyses of RCT showing a statistically significant benefit of hypothermia in the range of 32 to 34°C, and based on the fact that no study has shown a deleterious effect of hypothermia in the range of 32 to 34°C on neurological or overall outcome, we suggest that international guidelines follow the current Cochrane analyses and in the interim period clinicians should consider hypothermia in the range of 32 to 34°C in all adult patients after cardiac arrest as soon as feasible, and to maintain this temperature range for at least 24 h. Active normothermia (36.5 to 37.7°C) should be ensured after rewarming before and during neuroprognostication to avoid fever.
Contents of the original publication
The section headings of the original.
- Background
- Critical appraisal of the current 2022 ERC/ESICM guidelines and new scientific evidence
- Summary of 2023 evidence
- Recommendation 2023
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