Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: two and a half years experience of an accident and emergency department in Hong Kong.

The results are presented of 2 1/2 years of experience of patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrests who were resuscitated in an accident and emergency department (A&E) attached to an acute district hospital in Hong Kong. Out of 263 cases of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest as a result of a variety of causes only seven patients survived (3%) and among the 135 patients with cardiac aetiology only four survived (3%). Ways to improve the outcome for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest are discussed.