To explore the factors that could affect the prognosis of patients with sudden death after post-return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC).

A total of 69 cases of return of spontaneous circulation were reviewed, which were divided based on outcome into survival group and death group. They were also divided into good and poor groups according to the neurological status at hospital discharge. The receiver operating characteristic(ROC) curve of GCS and mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) , and 24 hours decline in lactate concentration(DLC) were compared in the two group to predict the prognosis, and the area under ROC were calculated.

There was no significant difference in the age of years, the time to return of spontaneous circulation, the dosage of adrenalin, PaO₂, PaCO₂, arterial lactic acid and APACHE II scores between the survival group and death group. The GCS scores and mean arterial blood pressure at arrival and the DLC in the survival group were higher than that of death group. The time spent on resuscitation, the largest dosage of norepinephrine in the survival group were lower than that of death group. Seventeen patients had good neurological status at discharge, while the other 56 were poor according to the cerebral performance Category. The GCS scores and blood glucose, mean arterial blood pressure in the good group were higher than that of poor group. The dosage of adrenalin and norepinephrine in the good group was also lower than that of poor group. The area under receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of MAP0, MAPlow, DLC and GCS were 0.739, 0.794, 0.771 and 0.804, respectively.

The mean arterial blood pressure, the GCS score and DLC may predict the prognosis of patients with sudden death after post-return of spontaneous circulation.