CPR: More compressions, fewer interruptions than to survive cardiac arrest
Of the 25 patients discharged, 88 percent scored well on measures of brain function.The rates of survival from sudden cardiac arrest outside the hospital is almost doubled when professional rescuers using cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) gave chest compressions and minimized interruptions better, according to research reported in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.
Comparing the 36 months preceding the passage of the protocol with 12 months later, the researchers also found: Among patients with cardiac arrest was witnessed by bystanders and who were initially in ventricular fibrillation, the success of resuscitation in restoring a heart rate and get the patient to the hospital alive improved from 37.8 percent (54 of 143) to 59.6 percent (34 of 57 patients).
It takes 5-7 chest compressions to raise the pressure enough to begin driving blood into the heart tissue, Garza said. If you stop too often to provide a couple of breaths, and then you have helped the heart much and you need to start building pressure all over again.
Overall survival from out of hospital cardiac arrest increased from 7.5 percent to 13.9 percent after the EMS department made changes to its resuscitation.
Co-authors are Matthew C. Gratton, MD, Joseph A. Solomon, MD, Daniel Lindholm, EMTP, MICT, James McElroy, EMTP, MICT and Rex Archer, MD, MPH
Nearly 300,000 sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) victims are treated by EMS in the United States each year, according to the American Heart Association. SCA is a sudden loss of heart function, usually occurs after the heart’s electrical impulses become rapid or irregular s, which prevents the heart from pumping blood efficiently.
Of patients whose cardiac arrest was witnessed by bystanders and who were in ventricular fibrillation, survival to hospital discharge increased from 22.4 per cent (32 out of 143) to 43.9 percent (25 of 57).
Garza’s performance studio monitor for changes in resuscitation protocols implemented by emergency medical services in Kansas City (EMS) in 2006. The Kansas City EMS put the priority on the hands of time to provide chest compressions with limited interruptions. Rescuers performed 50 chest compressions before a break to give two breaths. (American Heart Association guidelines call for 30 compressions followed by two breaths.) Among other changes, the rescuers to delay intubating patients and administering medications.
In this period of five to 10 minutes after sudden cardiac arrest, many tests show that if you do heart massage to keep the blood goes to the heart muscle, defibrillation is far more likely to work, said Garza.
It ‘s a message back to basics. Even with professional rescuers, starting sixth and drugs can take a back seat to good quality chest compressions, said Alex G. Garza, MD, MPH, lead author of the study and associate professor of emergency medicine at Washington Hospital Center and Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington, DC
