Abstract
Objective: Quantification of the incidence of CPR-related injuries in unsuccessfully resuscitated out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients. Design: Retrospective observational study.
Setting: Regional emergency medical services. Materials and methods: The study included the autopsy protocols of all 107 patients unsuccessfully resuscitated fol-lowing non-traumatic out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in the year 2015.
We identified all the patients with CPR-related trauma. These patients' medical reports from the emergency information system were then analysed.
They were compared to all the 394 resuscitations performed in the region in 2015. Results: CPR-associated major trauma of the chest and upper abdomen was found in 61 autopsy protocols (57% incidence in the deceased group; theoretically at least 15.5% incidence in all the resuscitations).
This is most likely to be caused by chest compressions. Twenty three (37 %) of the resuscitations with post-CPR trauma were conducted by the rescue services only and 37 (60.7 %) of the resuscitated patients with post-CPR trauma were younger than 70 years, therefore not all the post-CPR trauma can be ascribed to CPR by lay-persons or the frailty of the patients.
Conclusion: Further education of the general public in BLS and the adjustment of compressions to the body constitution of the particular patient need to be emphasized in the education of healthcare specialists, especially paramedics and EMS physicians. Further research of post-CPR trauma is necessary.