Cardiac Arrest: Lab Test

2nd order laboratory parameters-depending on the results of the history, physical examination, and obligatory laboratory parameters-for differential diagnostic workup

  • Small blood count
  • Inflammatory parameters – CRP (C-reactive protein).
  • Electrolytes – potassium, magnesium
  • Fasting glucose (fasting blood sugar)
  • Blood gas analysis (BGA)
  • High-sensitivity cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT) or troponin I (hs-cTnI) – exclusion of myocardial infarction (heart attack).
  • Blood cultures, smears from drains, etc.
  • Genetic testing (DNA analysis), post mortem (“after death”) to exclude cardiac ion channel diseases (“channelopathies”) or cardiomyopathies (heart muscle diseases) – in cases of unexplained sudden death; especially in young deceased* .

* In about 60% of outwardly healthy young patients, the cause of sudden cardiac death could be shown to be coronary artery disease (disease of the coronary arteries), various forms of cardiomyopathy (heart muscle disease), myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle), or even some aortic dissections (acute splitting (dissection) of the wall layers of the aorta). In the ca. 40% of patients for whom no evidence of alterations of the myocardium and adjacent vessels could be found at autopsy, extensive genetic testing (detection of mutations in four genes (KCNQ1, KCNH2, SCN5A, and RYR2) that can cause fatal arrhythmias; Variants in 16 arrhythmia genes; exome sequencing, the decoding of all potential protein-coding genes) determine a cause of death in 33 percent of cases by “molecular autopsy.”

Preventive laboratory diagnostics

  • Potassium, magnesium
  • Total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol