Ventilator for Improved Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation

Sudden cardiac arrest is the second most common cause of death in Sweden, following tumors. Annually, 10 000 people are subject to sudden cardiac arrest outside of hospital in the country.

Following sudden cardiac arrest, blood circulation in the body ceases, and the brain is subject to irreversible damage within minutes. The treatment consists mainly of mechanical chest compressions to circulate blood, combined with artificial gas exchange in the lungs to ventilate carbon dioxide and deliver oxygen.

It is possible to achieve improved circulation and increased coronary perfusion pressure when the gas flow to the patient's lungs is automatically controlled using the phase of the chest compression cycle. We have developed this idea into a mobile ventilator prototype, specifically intended to be used in cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

In this talk, we show how our phase-controlled ventilator compares to continuous insufflation of oxygen when combined with chest compressions to treat sudden cardiac arrest in healthy pigs.

The main result is a statistically significant improvement in coronary perfusion pressure, facilitating increased coronary perfusion, which is known to be correlated with the return of spontaneous circulation upon defibrillation and ultimately patient survival.