The application of mechanical devices for CPR: make the first 5 minutes the best 5 minutes!

摘要

Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is the third leading cause of death in the United States, behind heart disease (all other types) and cancer. Each day, approximately 1000 people in the United States are stricken, and the majority of them die. Many emergency medical services (EMS) systems report long-term survival rates of less than 5%, and many EMS systems do not even track survival data systematically. Witnessed arrest followed by bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is one of the key determinants of survival, offering compelling evidence for the importance of proper chest compressions during the first minutes of arrest.