Final answer:
Controlled hypothermia, which involves lowering the patient's body temperature to reduce heart damage and workload, is likely the most beneficial treatment for a semi-responsive patient post-cardiac arrest. This is often coupled with high-quality CPR to maintain blood flow to the brain.
Step-by-step explanation:
The treatment that will most likely benefit a 72-year-old patient who is semi-responsive after the restoration of circulation post-cardiac arrest is controlled hypothermia. This procedure involves the induction of a coma and lowering the body temperature to approximately 91 degrees to slow the patient's metabolic rate. It is a practice used by some emergency department physicians to reduce damage to the heart after a cardiac arrest and also to reduce the heart's workload since organs require less blood under these conditions. This therapeutic cooling is maintained typically for 24 hours to achieve these benefits.
Importance of CPR
Alongside controlled hypothermia, another critical intervention post-cardiac arrest is cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). High-quality CPR is essential until the patient regains spontaneous contractions or is declared dead. The resuscitation efforts aim to manually compress the heart to maintain blood flow, especially to the brain, thus preventing neuronal damage.