THE ambulance service covering Worcestershire is taking part in a potentially life-saving medical trial looking into the effectiveness of adrenaline in treating patients suffering a cardiac arrest.

West Midlands Ambulance Service is participating in the scheme coordinated by the University of Warwick and funded by National Institute for Health Research aiming to determine whether adrenaline is helpful or harmful as a treatment for a cardiac arrest.

As part of the scheme, which begins this month, researchers will look into the overall outcome for patients who have been treated with adrenaline.

Paramedic with West Midlands Ambulance Service and research fellow at Warwick Medical School Mike Smyth said adrenaline had been used to treat patients suffering cardiac arrests for more than 50 years, but it was still not known if it was actually beneficial.

“There has been data that had emerged recently that suggests patients who receive adrenaline during their resuscitation have worse neurologic (brain function) outcomes,” he said.

“Therefore it is important for us to find out for patients if we are harming them by giving them adrenaline.”

All patients involved in the study will also receive other, proven treatments such as CPR and defibrillation and if any significant difference one way or another is found the trial will be stopped early.

A cardiac arrest is when the heart suddenly stops beating and the patient is unconscious. It is not the same as a heart attack, which is when the heart is starved of oxygen.

Pregnant women, patients with anaphylactic reactions and under-16s will be excluded from the trial.

South Central Ambulance Service, London Ambulance Service, Welsh Ambulance Service and North East Ambulance Service are also taking part in the scheme.