Post-Cardiac Arrest Service

The University of Pittsburgh Post-Cardiac Arrest Service (PCAS) is a multidisciplinary group of clinicians and researchers from the Departments of Emergency Medicine, Critical Care Medicine, NeurologyCardiology, Radiology, and Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation dedicated to improving care and outcomes for patients who survive cardiac arrest.  Founded in 2007 at UPMC Presbyterian, PCAS provides initial resuscitation, in-hospital care, and long-term follow up to over 400 patients each year.  

Affiliated Faculty

Valerie Arias, MD, Neurology and Critical Care Medicine

Clifton Callaway, MD, PhD, Emergency Medicine

Patrick Coppler, PA-C, Emergency Medicine

Joseph Darby, MD, Critical Care Medicine

Ankur Doshi, MD, Emergency Medicine

Byron Drumheller, MD, Emergency Medicine

Jonathan Elmer, MD, MS, Emergency Medicine, Critical Care Medicine, and Neurology

Adam Frisch, MD, MS, Emergency Medicine

Joanna Fong-Isariyawongse, MD, Neurology

Francis Guyette, MD, MS, MPH, Emergency Medicine

A. Murat Kaynar, MD, MPH, Critical Care Medicine

Joseph Mettenburg, MD, PhD, Radiology

Masashi Okubo, MD, MS, Emergency Medicine

Cecelia Ratay, DNP, CRNP, Emergency Medicine

Zachary Rhinehart, MD, Cardiology

Kelly Sawyer, MD, MS, Emergency Medicine

Kimberly Schatz, DNP, CRNP, Emergency Medicine

Mark Schmidhofer, MD, Cardiology

Alexis Steinberg, MD, MS, Neurology, Critical Care Medicine, and Emergency Medicine

Amy Wagner, MD, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Neuroscience

Alexandra Weissman, MD, MS, MPH, Emergency Medicine

 

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Clinical Information for Providers

Post-cardiac arrest care requires coordinated input from multiple specialists.  The early 2000s drew attention to this fact with the advent of induced hypothermia.  As centers gained experience with hypothermia pathways, it became apparent that post-cardiac arrest patients had multiple special needs.  These patients can benefit from a specific "flavor" of care for their critical illness.  The PCAS service line coordinates the services needed for these patients.

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Pittsburgh Cardiac Arrest Category

The Pittsburgh Cardiac Arrest Category (PCAC) is a validated illness severity tool that is highly predictive of survival and functional outcome at hospital discharge. This score is based on the motor and brainstem subscales of the Full Outline of Unresponsiveness (FOUR) score, and cardiovascular and respiratory subscales of the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score.

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Cerebral Performance Categories - Extended

The Cerebral Performance Categories - Extended (CPC-E)  is a valid and reliable criterion-referenced tool based on the original Cerebral Performance Categories (CPC) (Safar, 1981) and consists of 10 items.

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Education Opportunities for Providers

PCAS supports learning opportunities for trainees of all levels.

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Research

The clinical care delivered by PCAS is a platform for multiple investigations and creation of new knowledge.  Our research has informed best practices in post-arrest care and drives the future of the field forward.