Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is a common and lethal problem, with an estimated 330,000 deaths each year in North America alone. Even in those cases where help arrives in a timely fashion, outcomes remain dismal with estimates of survival to hospital discharge ranging from 3.0% to 16.3%. Compounding the situation is the difficulty associated with conducting […]
Tag: CPR
Active compression-decompression CPR improves outcomes
Active compression-decompression cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) involves minimising intrathoracic pressure in the decompression phase of CPR, a technique which is felt to improve cerebral and coronary flow. […]
Breaking the rules – when to terminate cardiac arrest
Reported rates of survival following cardiac arrest range from 0.2% to 23%, with a median of 6.4% in the United States. The majority of patients who survive an out of hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) are resusucitated at the scene of the arrest. For those who cannot be immediately resuscitated, deciding whether to terminate resuscitation efforts […]