Aim: To describe the registry design of the Japanese Association for Acute Medicine – out‐of‐hospital cardiac arrest (JAAM‐OHCA) Registry as well as its profile on hospital information, patient and emergency medical service characteristics, and in‐hospital procedures and outcomes among patients with OHCA who were transported to the participating institutions.Methods: The special committee aiming to improve the survival after OHCA by providing evidence‐based therapeutic strategies and emergency medical systems from the JAAM has launched a multicenter, prospective registry that enrolled OHCA patients who were transported to critical care medical centers or hospitals with an emergency care department. The primary outcome was a favorable neurological status 1 month after OHCA.Results: Between June 2014 and December 2015, a total of 12,024 eligible patients with OHCA were registered in 73 participating institutions. The mean age of the patients was 69.2 years, and 61.0% of them were male. The first documented shockable rhythm on arrival of emergency medical services was 9.0%. After hospital arrival, 9.4% underwent defibrillation, 68.9% tracheal intubation, 3.7% extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation, 3.0% intra‐aortic balloon pumping, 6.4% coronary angiography, 3.0% percutaneous coronary intervention, 6.4% targeted temperature management, and 81.1% adrenaline administration. The proportion of cerebral performance category 1 or 2 at 1 month after OHCA was 3.9% among adult patients and 5.5% among pediatric patients.Conclusions: The special committee of the JAAM launched the JAAM‐OHCA Registry in June 2014 and continuously gathers data on OHCA patients. This registry can provide valuable information to establish appropriate therapeutic strategies for OHCA patients in the near future.

Neutrophil elastase plays an important role in the development of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) in sepsis. Sivelestat is a selective neutrophil elastase inhibitor. It is possible that sivelestat improves the outcome of septic patients associated with ARDS and DIC. A retrospective data analysis of septic patients associated with ARDS and DIC was conducted to investigate the effects of sivelestat. Observational period was 5 days after admission to intensive care unit (ICU). The study included 167 septic patients associated with ARDS and DIC. Control group included 133 patients without sivelestat, and sivelestat group included 34 patients started to deadministered sivelestat on the admission to ICU. The lung injury scores and PaO2/FiO2 ratio of the sivelestat group were significantly more severe than those of the control group from days 1 to 4. On day 5, the lung injury score and PaO2/FiO2 ratio of the sivelestat group improved to the same levels of those of the control group. The DIC score of sivelestat group improved on day 3 in comparison to day 1, and those of control group remained unchanged until day 4. The length of ICU stay of the sivelestat group was significantly shorter than that of the control group. A stepwise multiple logistic-regression analysis showed the sivelestat administration to be an independent predictor of survival of the septic patients associated with both ARDS and DIC. The length of ICU stay of the sivelestat group was significantly shorter than that of the control group. In addition, sivelestat administration was found to be an independent predictor of survival of those patients.

In trauma, hemostatic functions should be maintained appropriately to prevent massive bleeding. This study elucidated the time-dependent changes in platelet count and coagulation variables, and the effects of disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) on these changes during the early phase of trauma. Trauma patients with an injury severity score ≥16 were enrolled. The critical levels of platelet count and coagulation variables were defined according to recent trauma guidelines. Massive transfusion was defined as >10 units red cell concentrate. The time from arrival at the emergency department to reaching the critical levels and meeting the criteria for massive transfusion were evaluated. Eighty trauma patients were enrolled; 35 were diagnosed with DIC on arrival. Among all patients, fibrinogen levels reached the critical level earliest among routine coagulation parameters; other routine coagulation parameters deteriorated after the patients met the criteria for massive transfusion. Routine coagulation parameters reached their critical levels earlier in DIC patients than patients without DIC. Massive transfusion was performed more frequently in DIC patients, who met the criteria earlier. During the early phase of trauma, fibrinogen levels deteriorate earlier than other routine coagulation parameters, especially in DIC patients.

Summary: Recombinant human soluble thrombomodulin (rhTM) is a novel class of anticoagulants for treating disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC). Although rhTM is widely used in clinical settings throughout Japan, there is limited clinical evidence supporting the use of rhTM in patients with sepsis-induced DIC. Furthermore, rhTM is not approved for DIC treatment in other countries. This study aimed to clarify the survival benefits of rhTM administration in critically ill patients. Data from 3,195 consecutive adult patients who were admitted to 42 intensive care units for the treatment of severe sepsis or septic shock between January 2011 and December 2013 were retrospectively analysed, and 1,784 patients were diagnosed with DIC based on the scoring algorithm from the Japanese Association for Acute Medicine DIC (n = 645, rhTM group; n = 1,139, control group). Propensity score matching created 452 matched pairs, and logistic regression analysis revealed a significant association between rhTM administration and lower in-hospital all-cause mortality in the propensity score-matched groups (odds ratio, 0.757; 95 % confidence interval, 0.574–0.999, p = 0.049). Inverse probability of treatment weighted and quintile-stratified analyses also revealed significant associations between rhTM administration and lower in-hospital all-cause mortality. Survival time in the propensity score-matched rhTM group was significantly longer than that in the propensity score-matched control group (hazard ratio, 0.781; 95 % confidence interval, 0.624–0.977, p = 0.03). Bleeding complications were not more frequent in the rhTM groups. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that rhTM administration is associated with reduced in-hospital all-cause mortality among patients with sepsis-induced DIC.

In severe trauma patients, coagulopathy is frequently observed in the acute phase of trauma. Trauma-induced coagulopathy is coagulopathy caused by the trauma itself. The pathophysiology of trauma-induced coagulopathy consists of coagulation activation, hyperfibrino(geno)lysis, and consumption coagulopathy. These pathophysiological mechanisms are the characteristics to DIC with the fibrinolytic phenotype.