Cardiac arrest with continuous mechanical chest compression during percutaneous coronary intervention

Part 8: adult advanced cardiovascular life support: 2010 American Heart Association Guidelines for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care

The goal of therapy for bradycardia or tachycardia is to rapidly identify and treat patients who are hemodynamically unstable or symptomatic due to the arrhythmia. Drugs or, when appropriate, pacing may be used to control unstable or symptomatic bradycardia. Cardioversion or drugs or both may be used to control unstable or symptomatic tachycardia. ACLS providers should closely monitor stable patients pending expert consultation and should be prepared to aggressively treat those with evidence of decompensation.

Part 7: CPR techniques and devices: 2010 American Heart Association Guidelines for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care

A variety of CPR techniques and devices may improve hemodynamics or short-term survival when used by well-trained providers in selected patients. All of these techniques and devices have the potential to delay chest compressions and defibrillation. In order to prevent delays and maximize efficiency, initial training, ongoing monitoring, and retraining programs should be offered to providers on a frequent and ongoing basis. To date, no adjunct has consistently been shown to be superior to standard conventional (manual) CPR for out-of-hospital basic life support, and no device other than a defibrillator has consistently improved long-term survival from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

Prolonged closed cardiac massage using LUCAS device in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest with prolonged transport time

Saving more human lives through more effective reanimation measures is the goal of the new international guidelines on cardiopulmonary resuscitation as the decisive aspect for survival after cardiovascular arrest is that basic resuscitation should start immediately. According to the updated guidelines, the greatest efficacy in cardiac massage is only achieved when the right compression point, an adequate compression depth, vertical pressure, the correct frequency, and equally long phases of compression and decompression are achieved. The very highest priority is placed on restoring continuous circulation. Against this background, standardized continuous chest compression with active decompression has contributed to a favorable outcome in this case. The hydraulically operated and variably adjustable automatic Lund University Cardiac Arrest System (LUCAS) device (Jolife, Lund, Sweden) undoubtedly meets these requirements. This case report describes a 44-year-old patient who – approximately 15 min after the onset of clinical death due to apparent ventricular fibrillation – received cardiopulmonary resuscitation, initially by laypersons and then by the emergency medical team (manual chest compressions followed by situation-adjusted LUCAS compressions). Sinus rhythm was restored after more than 90 min of continuous resuscitation, with seven defibrillations. Interventional diagnostic workup did not reveal a causal morphological correlate for the condition on coronary angiography. After a 16-day period of hospital convalescence, with preventive implantation of an implantable cardioverter defibrillator and several weeks of rehabilitation, the patient was able to return home with no evidence of health impairment.

Improving the outcome of in-hospital cardiac arrest: the importance of being EARNEST

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation techniques were introduced more than 50 years ago, yet the rate of survival from cardiac arrest, particularly in the hospital setting, remains dismally low. This article reviews the prevalence, etiology, and outcome of in-hospital cardiac arrest, with a focus on the determinants of outcome that are amenable to improvement. These include principally components of basic life support that may be supported by either prompting or mechanical assistance (eg, chest compression, ventilation, and defibrillation). Also reviewed are preevent and postevent effectors such as medical staff skills and recognition of impending arrest, induction of mild hypothermia, and stabilization after return of spontaneous circulation.