CPR: New technique could save many more lives

A new method of CPR (cardio-pulmonary resuscitation), which concentrates on the belly area instead of the chest, is supposed to be more effective.

It’s based on a discovery made by a nursing doctoral student who noticed that blood flow was doubled if a person pushed down on the abdomen area after each chest compression.  Her professor, Leslie Geddes, at Purdue’s Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, took the idea further, and has suggested a new form of CPR that dispenses with chest compressions altogether.

Instead of two breaths for every 30 chest compressions, the new procedure provides a breath for every abdominal compression because pushing on the abdomen depresses the diaphragm toward the head, expelling air from the lungs.
The new technique produces 25 per cent more blood flow through the heart muscle, and reduces the chances of damage to the rub cage.

(Source: Purdue press release, September 7, 2007).

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