On May 16, 2025 Lis Frykler Abasi, physician at the Department of Anaesthesiology at Norrtälje Hospital, as well as our colleague and friend, successfully defended his doctoral thesis.
Lis Frykler Abasi has many years of research experience and is affiliated with the Department of Clinical Research and Education, Södersjukhuset. He is also a valued member of the research group at the Centre for Resuscitation Science.
The thesis, Advanced care in patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest , aimed primarily to characterize and investigate whether survival in patients suffering from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest could be improved through advanced circulatory support, compared to standard treatment alone.
Additionally, the use of hypothermia treatment in the intensive care unit following OHCA was studied.
In his thesis, Lis Frykler Abasi presented, among other findings, that the use of targeted temperature management (TTM) in Sweden declined after the publication of the TTM trial, contrary to guideline recommendations, but without any effect on 6-month survival. Furthermore, he showed that the implementation of an ECPR program in Stockholm was feasible without major safety issues, although the intended time goals were not achieved. Despite this, survival was comparable to previous ECPR studies, and most survivors had more than 60 minutes from cardiac arrest to ECMO initiation.
Among patients with shockable out-of-hospital cardiac arrest undergoing coronary angiography, no increase in the burden of coronary artery disease was observed with a higher number of defibrillations. Additionally, the factors most strongly associated with lack of return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) were the absence of ROSC 10 minutes after EMS arrival and the administration of adrenaline. Combined, these factors identified 83 percent of patients without ROSC in the full cohort and 81 percent in the ECPR subgroup.
We are proud and congratulate Lis to his success!
Lis Frykler Abasi's supervisors were Sune Forsberg , Jacob Hollenberg , Mattias Ringh och Per Nordberg .
