Carotid flow and intermittent abdominal compression cardiopulmonary resuscitation

The authors studied combinations of pressure variations through intermittent abdominal compression (IAC) and CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) to optimize hemodynamic parameters such as the carotid flow. Experiments on fifteen days were performed with different combinations of the relative duration of thoracic/abdominal compression and ventilation frequency, all at a mean resuscitation heart rate of 60 beats/min. The hemodynamic parameter were measured for IAC-CPR with and without an abdominal cuff for comparison purposes. Manual CPR was compared to IAC-CPR. Automated and manual synchronization between the IAC-CPR and the ventilation procedure were compared as well. The results clearly show that carotid flow is higher for the IAC-CPR, and optimal for a 40 to 50% duration of the systolic phase (thoracic compression), and you are enhanced by synchronization of ventilation with thoracic compression.<>