Acute cardiac care & resuscitation

Transesophageal Echocardiography During Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) in Patients With Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest: The EXECT-CPR Randomized Clinical Trial

JAMA Intern MedPublished cluster-randomized clinical trial

Primary result · Sustained return of spontaneous circulation (≥20 minutes)Result — go to the resultCluster-adjusted odds ratio 1.21 95% CI 0.64–2.29

Authors' conclusion

In this randomized clinical trial among adults transported to the emergency department with ongoing CPR for nontraumatic out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, TEE-guided CPR with an adjusted compression site after arrival did not significantly improve clinical outcomes compared with conventional CPR, although it produced potential hemodynamic benefits without increasing adverse events. Given that the trial was underpowered due to optimistic effect size assumptions, these neutral findings should be interpreted with caution.

Study context

Population
Adults who consecutively presented to the emergency department with nontraumatic out-of-hospital cardiac arrestunderwent randomization
Participants
132 adults
Comparison
Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE)-guided CPR vs conventional CPR
  • TEE-guided groupn = 66
  • Conventional groupn = 66
Primary endpoint
Sustained return of spontaneous circulation (≥20 minutes)
Methodological details1 tertiary medical center in Taiwan, complete blinding not feasible
  • 1 tertiary medical center in Taiwan
  • Complete blinding not feasible

Primary result

As reported in the abstract

Cluster-adjusted odds ratio

1.21

95% CI 0.64–2.29

Events by treatment group

TEE-guided groupvs conventional group
cluster-adjusted odds ratio 1.21 (95% CI 0.64–2.29)

Secondary outcomes

Secondary outcomes did not significantly differ
Higher intra-CPR end-tidal carbon dioxide levels in the TEE-guided group during the 11th to 20th minutes after arrival

Original publication

Transesophageal Echocardiography During CPR in Patients With Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest: The EXECT-CPR Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Intern Med. Published 1 May 2026. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2026.0102

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