(December 17, 2008 - Insidermedicine) There does not appear to be any benefit to receiving a blood clot-dissolving drug while undergoing CPR for cardiac arrest, according to research published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Here is some information on cardiac arrest:

•    It is a sudden, abrupt loss of functioning of the heart.

•    Most frequently, cardiac arrest is caused by underlying heart disease, although it can occur in those without known heart disease.

•    A person in cardiac arrest will lose consciousness, stop normal breathing, and lose pulse and blood pressure.

Researchers from the University of Cologne randomly assigned 1,050 people who experienced cardiac arrest outside of the hospital to be given the clot-dissolving drug tenecteplase or a placebo while they received CPR. None of the patients were given aspirin or heparin.

Receiving tenecteplase or a placebo did not affect the patients’ survival, nor did it affect rates of hospital admission, the time it took for blood circulation to return, the likelihood to survive long enough to be released from hospital, or neurological status. Brain bleeds occurred more often in those who received tenecteplase.

We had a chance to speak with Dr. Bernd Böttiger, the principal investigator of this study, who offered some further insight.

Today’s research indicates that clot-dissolving drugs are not a useful treatment during CPR for patients in cardiac arrest, even though such patients are known to often suffer from life-threatening blood clots.

For Insidermedicine in Depth, I'm Dr. Susan Sharma.