Tachy | Brady | Hypo | H-CA | H-brady | H-tachy | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tachy, all cases of tachycardia/tachydysrhythmia;7 Brady, all cases of bradycardia;6 Hypo, all cases of hypotension; H-CA, cardiac arrest in association with hypotension; H-brady, bradycardia in association with hypotension; H-tachy, tachycardia in association with hypotension. | ||||||
*Percentage of set or subset. | ||||||
†Data mislaid, causes approximately 20% greater than reports. | ||||||
‡Variation from 100% reflects rounding of percentages. | ||||||
Examples of causes expressed as number of cases: | ||||||
¶Cardiopulmonary causes: H-CA: myocardial infarct (n = 3), gas embolism (n = 1), bronchopleural fistula (n = 1), pacemaker malfunction (n = 1), pressure on pericardium (n = 2); Hypo: myocardial infarct (n = 3), myocardial ischaemia (n = 1), left ventricular failure (n = 2), dysrhythmia (n = 1), tension pneumothorax (n = 4), haemothorax (n = 2), gas embolism (n = 5), fat embolism (n = 1); H-tachy: left ventricular failure (n = 1), tension pneumothorax (n = 2), haemothorax (n = 1), gas embolism (n = 1). | ||||||
§Surgical causes: H-CA: central venous cannula wire (n = 2), hip cement or reaming (n = 3), pneumoperitoneum (n = 4), tourniquet (n = 1), suction (n = 1); Hypo: central venous cannula wire (n = 3), hip cement or reaming (n = 2), pneumoperitoneum (n = 2), clamp removal (n = 1), inferior vena caval compression (n = 1), retractors (n = 1), removal of atrial shunt (n = 1); H-tachy: central venous cannula wire (n = 2), hip cement or reaming (n = 1). | ||||||
**Central nervous system causes: CA: raised intracranial hypertension (n = 1); | ||||||
††Metabolic causes: CA: acidosis (n = 2), anaemia (n = 1). | ||||||
No of reports | 145 | 265 | 438 | 108 | 134 | 38 |
No of different causes | 148 | 319 | 550 | † | † | 48 |
Causes* | ||||||
Allergy | 11 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 21 |
Airway | 4 | 16 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 4 |
Hypovolaemia | 3 | 3 | 9 | 9 | 4 | 4 |
Regional anaesthesia | 1 | 9 | 17 | 14 | 16 | 4 |
Drugs | 33 | 28 | 26 | 26 | 30 | 19 |
Cardiopulmonary¶ | 8 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 11 |
Reflexes | 9 | 14 | 6 | 8 | 14 | 4 |
Posture | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Sepsis | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Surgery§ | 6 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 6 |
Pre-existing condition | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
CNS** | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Metabolic†† | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
Monitoring | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
Light anaesthesia | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Hypercapnia | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Other | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
Not determined | 8 | 8 | 16 | 13 | 11 | 17 |
Total (%)‡ | 99 | 100 | 99 | 101 | 99 | 100 |