Graphical Abstract: What will OHCA management look like in the near future? Warning symptoms will prompt early ECG, that the patient will be able to perform and transmit to EMS using connected devices. If the risk of OHCA is deemed high based on the ECG and simple clinical data, pre-emptive measures will be undertaken (near-term prevention). In the case of OHCA, bystanders will be alerted using lay responders' smartphone apps to start early CPR, with directions towards the closest AED when available, and/or information regarding the arrival of an AED-equipped drone. An EMS ambulance will be sent to the site for advanced life support, and survivors will be transferred to hospital, where investigations will be undertaken to identify OHCA aetiology. In addition to personalized medicine, secondary prevention measures will be undertaken according to the cause of the OHCA and risk profile of the patient, using new defibrillation technologies.
The incidence of ventricular fibrillation and survival probability drops rapidly during the first minutes following out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). Early defibrillation is therefore crucial for increasing OHCA survival rate, and has led to remarkable survival rates, reaching up to 90% in specific settings where it was optimally used.[1]However, early defibrillation is jeopardized by the sudden nature of OHCAs, as a time delay is required to send Emergency Medical Services (EMS) equipped with a defibrillator to the OHCA site.
