2025 American Heart Association Guidelines for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care
Published on 22 October 2025 — the same day as the ERC Guidelines and drawing on the same ILCOR evidence evaluation — the 2025 AHA Guidelines for CPR and ECC are the first full rewrite since 2020, with roughly 760 recommendations across systems of care, adult, paediatric and neonatal life support, post-cardiac-arrest care, special circumstances, resuscitation education and ethics. Headline changes include a single unified Chain of Survival, new guidance on choking and on opioid-associated emergencies, and a restatement of post-arrest temperature control. This page groups the landmark trials from our register that sit behind those recommendations by theme.
This guideline cites 18 of the 61 landmark trials in our Emergency medicine register.
Adult basic life support & defibrillation2
- 2022DOSE-VFICU · Post-arrest · DefibrillationDouble Sequential External Defibrillation
- 2015PARAMEDIC (LUCAS-2)Emergency · CPR · Mechanical CPRPre-hospital Randomised Assessment of a Mechanical Compression Device in Cardiac Arrest
Adult advanced life support — vasopressors & antiarrhythmics2
- 2018PARAMEDIC2ICU · Post-arrest · AdrenalineAdrenaline versus Placebo in Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest
- 2016ALPSEmergency · CPR · AntiarrhythmicsAmiodarone, Lidocaine, or Placebo in Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest
Airway management & oxygenation3
- 2023DEVICEEmergency · Airway · Video laryngoscopyVideo versus Direct Laryngoscopy for Tracheal Intubation of Critically Ill Adults
- 2019PreVentEmergency · Airway · Bag-mask ventilationBag-Mask Ventilation during Tracheal Intubation of Critically Ill Adults
- 2018AIRWAYS-2Emergency · Airway · Supraglottic vs ETIEffect of a Strategy of a Supraglottic Airway Device vs Tracheal Intubation during OHCA on Functional Outcome
Extracorporeal CPR (ECPR)3
- 2023INCEPTIONICU · Post-arrest · ECPREarly ECPR for Refractory Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest
- 2022PRAGUE-OHCAEmergency · ECPR · ECPREffect of Intra-arrest Transport, Extracorporeal CPR, and Immediate Invasive Assessment in Refractory OHCA
- 2020ARRESTICU · Post-arrest · ECPRAdvanced REperfusion Strategies for Refractory Cardiac Arrest
Post-cardiac-arrest care — temperature control3
- 2021TTM2Cardiology · Critical care · Temperature managementHypothermia versus Normothermia after Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest
- 2019HYPERIONCardiology · Critical care · Temperature managementTherapeutic Hypothermia after Cardiac Arrest in Non-Shockable Rhythm
- 2013TTMCardiology · Critical care · Temperature managementTargeted Temperature Management
Post-cardiac-arrest care — blood-pressure & oxygen targets2
Coronary angiography & cardiogenic shock after arrest3
- 2021TOMAHAWKEmergency · Post-arrest · Immediate angiographyAngiography after Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest without ST-Segment Elevation
- 2019COACTEmergency · Post-arrest · Immediate angiographyCoronary Angiography after Cardiac Arrest without ST-Segment Elevation
- 2017CULPRIT-SHOCKICU · CS / MCS · RevascularisationCulprit-Lesion-Only versus Multivessel PCI in Cardiogenic Shock