[Sudden death outside the hospital: evaluation of the activities of an intensive care mobile unit in Geneva].

A prospective study on the treatment of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest by a mobile intensive care unit was conducted in Geneva for 1 year. 76 attempts at cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) were made: 25 patients were admitted to the intensive care unit (33%) and 13 lived to be discharged from hospital (17%). Age, initial arrhythmia and duration of cardiopulmonary arrest (CPA) were important factors in determining the initial success of CPR. Long-term survival was associated with CPA of less than 4 minutes duration, with bystander-initiated CPR and with CPR lasting less than 30 minutes. Better education of the public and more direct access to the system should make it possible to treat more patients in more favourable conditions and improve overall results. A more determined effort to educate the public in CPR would also improve the prognosis in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.