Each year between 300,000 and 400,000 people suffer an out-of-hospital heart attack in Europe. Only between 5% and 7% of these patients survive and are discharged. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation guidelines recommend manual chest compression with few intervals wherever possible. Manual chest compression only achieves between 20 and 30% of normal blood flow and is difficult to maintain for long periods.
Mechanical chest compression with the LUCAS device demonstrated an increased blood flow in experimental studies. The goal of the study was to show higher survival rate with the LUCAS device vs manual chest compression in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients.
1300 patients were included and subjected to resuscitation with the LUCAS device and 1289 with traditional resuscitation. The results showed that survival at 4 hours was similar (23.6% vs 23.7%) as was neurological evolution at 1 and 6 months.
Conclusion:
Mechanical compression with the LUCAS device in combination with defibrillation during compression was not shown to be superior in survival rate at 4 hours or subsequent neurological recovery.
Sten%20Rubertsson_slides
Sten Rubertsson
2013-09-02
Original title: LINC—A multicenter randomized trial comparing a mechanical CPR algorithm using LUCAS vs manual CPR in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients.
