Automated CPR Device Significantly Improves Survival

Newswise — Survival rates of patients suffering a cardiac arrest dramatically improved when they were treated with an automated cardiopulmonary resuscitation device versus manual CPR prior to reaching the hospital, according to an independent study at the Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center.

The findings were presented at the American Heart Association's Resuscitation Science Symposium by Joseph P. Ornato, M.D., chairman of the VCU School of Medicine's Department of Emergency Medicine and medical director of the Richmond Ambulance Authority.

The study, an analysis of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest cases between January 2001 and March 2005, evaluated data before and after Richmond Ambulance Authority paramedics began using an automated CPR device called AutoPulse.

The study compared 499 manual CPR cases and 284 cases using automated CPR.

Overall, the data showed a survival-to-hospital-discharge rate of 9.7 percent using automated CPR, compared with 2.9 percent using manual chest compressions. Similarly, the survival-to-hospital-admission rate was 20.9 percent using automated CPR versus 11.1 percent using manual CPR. The findings also compared the length of time it took for a patient to regain spontaneous blood circulation " 34.5 percent with automated CPR and 20.2 percent with manual CPR.

"We are tremendously pleased with the study results," said Ornato. "The key to survival in cardiac arrests is restoring heart function as quickly as possible. The AutoPulse clearly does this and thus offers an effective tool for first responders and paramedics in treating these patients."

According to Ornato, Richmond is the first EMS agency in the country to have significantly more patients survive and be discharged from the hospital with use of the device.

The AutoPulse is a battery-operated portable device with a backboard and a band that fastens across a victim's chest. The band constricts across the chest at approximately 80 compressions per minute and has been shown, in other studies, to provide nearly normal blood flow during cardiac arrest.

Ornato's presentation was one of two special sessions on CPR devices. He presented the study data earlier this month during his discussion, "Case-Control Study of AutoPulse for Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest."

"The goal of the Richmond Ambulance Authority always has been to provide the best care to our patients. We now have evidence that the AutoPulse device helps us to achieve that goal," said Jerry Overton, executive director of Richmond Ambulance Authority.

The AutoPulse is manufactured by ZOLL Medical Corporation, Chelmsford, Mass.

About the Virginia Commonwealth University Medical CenterThe Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center is one of the nation's leading academic medical centers and stands alone as the only academic medical center in Central Virginia. The medical center includes the 780-bed MCV Hospitals and outpatient clinics, MCV Physicians -- a 600-physician-faculty group practice, and the health sciences schools of Virginia Commonwealth University. The VCU Medical Center, through its VCU Health System, offers state-of-the art care in more than 200 specialty areas, many of national and international note, including organ transplantation, head and spinal cord trauma, burn healing and cancer treatment. The VCU Medical Center is the site for the region's only Level 1 Trauma Center. As a leader in healthcare research, the VCU Medical Center offers patients the opportunity to choose to participate in programs that advance evolving treatment, such as those sponsored by the National Cancer Institute through VCU's Massey Cancer Center, Virginia's first NCI-designated cancer center. The VCU Medical Center's academic mission is supported by VCU's health sciences schools of medicine, allied health, dentistry, pharmacy and nursing.