Lund, Sweden - In the February issue of Resuscitation Journal, a case series reports on good outcomes of in-hospital cardiac arrest patients that traditionally have a very poor survival prognosis, so called PEA patients (pulseless electrical activity). PEA is one of the most common cardiac arrest rhythms and often requires prolonged resuscitation during which the underlying cause is found and treated. With the assistance of the LUCAS Chest Compression System, a system that sustains blood circulation in cardiac arrest victims and allows for other interventional procedures during resuscitation, almost 50% of the patients in this patient series survived to be discharged home in good neurological condition. This can be compared to earlier published survival rates of around 10% with manual chest compressions. The article by Prof. Bonnemeier, co-chair of the Department of Cardiology, University Clinic Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Kiel, Germany and co-authors has been chosen as “article of the month”.

The case series included 28 cardiac arrest patients in PEA occurring at three different university hospitals in Europe. The patients required diagnostic and therapeutic interventions during prolonged resuscitation of 10 to 180 minutes. The majority of the patients (21) were consecutive from the Internal Medical Ward at the University Clinic Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. 27/28 regained their pulse, 14/28 of the patients survived to be discharged home, 13 of whom were in good neurological condition.

Prof. Bonnemeier comments: “Mechanical chest compressions help sustain circulation during prolonged resuscitation efforts, transportation and during interventional procedures; situations where manual chest compressions are difficult to maintain effectively. The LUCAS device is a practical and extremely efficient tool that most likely has contributed to better therapy and resulted in good outcomes.”

The American Heart Association and European Resuscitation Council’s new 2010 guidelines for resuscitation emphasize continuous and effective chest compressions during the whole resuscitation event.

Source: Jolife AB