Objective: There are more than 600 000 sudden deaths in North America and Europe each year. Survival after the out-of-hospital sudden cardiac arrest is low.We aimed to evaluate the outcome of the out-of-hospital CPR and admissions to the ICU after the successful CPR. Design: Retrospective, observational study. Setting: Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Medicine. Material and Methods:We studied survival of the out-of-hospital sudden heart arrest after the CPR and during the following admission to our ICU in the years 2001 and 2002. The patients with circulatory arrest following trauma were excluded in terminal phase of chronic illness and with hypothermia. Results: Out of 43 resuscitated patients, 22 (51%) died, 12 (28%) survived with the serious neurological damage and 9 (22%) survived without the neurological damage. The most important factor for survival without the neurological damage after hospital discharge is the time of initiation of cardiopulmonary resuscitation.The duration of cardiopulmonary resuscitation is also important. The previous health condition has no impact on survival without neurological damage.

        Key words: cardiac arrest – out-of-hospital resuscitation – survival