NEW CPR METHOD WORKING

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 15, 1992                   TAG: 9201150185
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short
NEW CPR METHOD WORKING
A new method for performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR, may significantly increase the chances of surviving a cardiac arrest, according to the first large study of the technique in hospitalized patients.
The technique being tested alternates compressions of the chest with compressions of the abdomen to maintain blood flow to the heart and brain. Standard CPR uses compressions of the chest only. Both methods also employ mechanically assisted breathing or mouth-to-mouth breathing.
Researchers at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Paterson, N.J., found that 25 percent of the patients treated with the new CPR technique left the hospital alive, compared to 7 percent of those treated with the standard technique. The study, involving 135 resuscitation attempts in 103 hospitalized patients, is being reported today in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Dr. Jeffrey B. Sack, its principal author, said he was encouraged by the results but would not recommend a change in CPR procedures based on the results of one study.
"In general, the outcomes [of CPR] are poor," said Sack, now a cardiology fellow at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. "If we can come up with improved methods that increase the chances of surviving cardiac arrest, we can potentially save many more people."
The New Jersey study is continuing and will be expanded to include other hospitals, Sack said.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB