CPR Not as Effective as Chest Compressions Alone

patiwat writes "A Japanese study detailed in the New York Times has found that people suffering from cardiac arrest were more likely to recover without brain damage if rescuers focused on chest compressions rather than on rescue breaths. Some experts advised dropping the mouth-to-mouth part of CPR altogether. Interrupting chest compression to perform mouth-to-mouth ventilation might do more harm than good if blood flow to the heart was not properly re-established, a researcher from Tokyo's Surugadai Nihon University Hospital said. According to the article, 'More than 300,000 Americans die from cardiac arrest each year. Roughly 9 out of 10 cardiac arrest victims die before they get to a hospital — partly because they do not get CPR.'"

Comments

Ventilation still valid, I think.... ?

[bananaendian]

The mouth-to-mouth ventilation part was always the tricky bit. To be effective you had to blow a large volume of air into the patient with a frequency that made you dizzy and tired quickly. But you also had to be careful not to blow too hard and get air into the stomach which would then blow out all the food out. Often members of the public were reluctant to engage in CPR because of the ventilation part (because of hygiene and sensitivity consideration) and many victims didn't get any CPR because of this. In many countries, including here in Finland, the directives for teaching non-professionals CPR have been changed years ago to teach only the compression part. But I see no reason here why the ventilation part would make CPR less effective when done properly and by professionals. Perhaps this study just shows the lack of skill in doing it properly. After all, what's the point of circulation, if there's no oxygen going in?

CPR Robot

[superid]

ianaEMT but I volunteer at our local ambulance service as the network admin. I heard about this study and others like it back in December. Due to the emphasis and effectivity of chest compressions, and the risk to the patient during the lapse of compressions when you are breathing, we looked at buying two of these units

You strap the patient to the board and it will do regular chest compressions for you. It is nothing short of amazing and the medics tell me that it is very effective. You can't do either breathing OR compressions when you are hauling a gurney down 3 flights of stairs.

I wish I'd known this before Zoll stock went from 24 to 80 :(