ResQ-Valve with CPR May Increase Survival of Heart Attack
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR, is a life-saving procedure that incorporates timed compressions of the chest wall, alternating with mouth-to-mouth breathing to provide oxygen to vital organs while stimulating the heart to resume pumping.
If performed within four to six minutes of cardiac arrest, CPR can increase the chances of survival for someone who is having a heart attack. But a Medical College of Wisconsin research team found performing CPR with a simple device called a ResQ-Valve can double survival rate long enough to admit heart attack patients to an intensive care unit. The one-way valve prevents air from entering the lungs on the decompression phase of CPR, but does not stop ventilation.
"Our findings demonstrate the ResQ-Valve significantly improved short-term survival rates for victims of cardiac arrest," says Tom P. Aufderheide, MD, Medical College of Wisconsin emergency physician. The study, led by Dr. Aufderheide and Emergency Medicine colleague Ronald G. Pirrallo, MD, also showed many more patients survive to get further treatment in the hospital if CPR included the ResQ-Valve.