Guiding Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation with Focused Echocardiography: A Report of Five Cases.

CONCLUSION: Providers using focused echocardiography to evaluate cardiac arrest patients should consider initiating scans at the start of compressions to identify the optimal location for compression delivery and to detect inadequate compressions. Subsequent visualization of full left ventricular compression may be seen after a location change, and combined with end tidal carbon dioxide values, gives indication for improved forward circulatory flow. Although it is not possible in all patients, doing so hastens provision of quality compressions that affect hemodynamic parameters without causing prolongations to the pulse check pause. Further research is needed to determine patient outcomes from both out-of-hospital and in-hospital cardiac arrest when cardiopulmonary resuscitation is visually guided by focused echocardiography. PMID: 31150302 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Prehospital Emergency Care - Category: Endocrinology Tags: Prehosp Emerg Care Source Type: research