Intravenous magnesium in shock-resistant tachyarrhythmias

Three part question Does [intravenous magnesium] lead to [return of spontaneous circulation] in [shock-resistant tachyarrhythmias] Clinical scenario A 65 year old man suffered a witnessed out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Search strategy MEDLINE OVID interface on the world wide web. 1966-Dec 2005 EMBASE 1980-2005 COCHRANE Library Issue 4, 2005 Search details {exp MAGNESIUM/or magnesium.mp} AND {exp Ventricular Fibrillation/or ventricular fibrillation.mp OR exp Tachycardia, Ventricular/or ventricular tachycardia.mp OR ventricular tachyarrhythmia$.mp OR exp Heart Arrest/or cardiac arrest.mp} AND {refractory.mp. OR pulseless.mp OR persistent.mp OR Shock-refractory} LIMIT to {human and english language} Search outcome 42 articles in total out of which five were relevant trials Comments Magnesium use in refractory ventricular tachyarrhythmias gained interest after case reports by Tobey, Craddock, Baraka and others which showed return of spontaneous circulation and neurological intact discharge.