Feasible study of carotid artery Doppler ultrasound blood flow measurement during chest compression cardiopulmonary resuscitation

Objective To determine the feasibility of ultrasound to measure blood flow on patients with chest compression cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and to find out a real-time, noninvasive hemodynamic evaluation method. Methods A prospective study was conducted. All adult patients undergoing CPR admitted to Department of Emergency and intensive care unit (ICU) of Zhengzhou People's Hospital from May 2016 to November 2018 were enrolled. The blood flow over the right carotid arteries during chest compressions was recorded with a bedside ultrasound machine. The peak systolic flow velocity (PSV) and end diastolic flow velocity (EDV) of carotid artery were recorded at 1 minute after the start of CPR and 1 minute before the end of CPR. The mean compression frequency during the whole recovery period was recorded, the rate of compression reaching the standard was evaluated by ultrasound (the rate of compression 100-120 times/min was defined as up to standard), and the interruption time of compression was calculated retrospectively according to the ultrasound image data recorded during CPR. Results Thirty-nine patients were enrolled, and 21 patients were successfully rescued, with a successful rate of 53.8%, the time of restoration of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) was (10.9±5.3) minutes. The time from CPR to retrieve an ultrasound image was 1.1-4.9 minutes, with an average of (2.5±1.2) minutes. Satisfactory ultra-sonographic images were obtained in 28 patients during the whole course of chest compression. The acquisition rate was 71.8% (28/39). In the process of compression, if the frequency of compression was less than 100 times/min or the velocity of carotid artery dropped (PSV 0.05), suggesting that satisfactory resuscitation effect was achieved in the whole process of CPR. The compression frequency of 28 patients was 100-149 times/min with an average of (117±47) times/min. The rate of compression with standard was 85.7% (24/28), and the total interruption time of compression accounted for 4.4% of all compression time (25.9 minutes/587.2 minutes). Conclusion Ultrasound measurement of common carotid artery blood flow during CPR has the advantage of real-time and non-invasive, and it is feasible in clinical work. Key words: Chest compression; Cardiopulmonary resuscitation; Carotid Doppler