Ultrasound-Guided Chest Compressions in Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrests

Abstract Background There is a significant variability in survival rates for cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in out of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA), and some data indicate that ultrasound improves CPR. Objectives We evaluated the feasibility of ultrasound for monitoring chest compressions in OHCA. Methods We planned a prospective study in patients with an ultrasound-integrated CPR for OHCA. Chest compressions were performed on the intermammillary line (IML), but the position was changed according to the quality of the heart squeezing, evaluated by ultrasound. End-tidal carbon dioxide (ETCO2) was used as the control parameter. Then we compared the area with the highest squeezing with the position of the heart in the chest computed tomography (CT) scans of 20 hospitalized patients. Results Chest compressions were good, partial, and inadequate on the IML in 58.4%, 48.9%, and 2.8% of cases, respectively. These percentages were 75%, 25%, and 0% after these modifications: none (47.2%), increased depth (8.3%), hands moved on the lower third of the sternum (27.8%), on left parasternal line of the lower part of the sternum (13.9%), and on the center of the sternum (1 case). Accordingly, ETCO2 improved significantly (20.37 vs. 37.10, p  Conclusions Our study has demonstrated that CPR in OHCA can be improved using ultrasound and changing the position of the hands. This finding was connected with the ETCO2 and confirmed by chest CT scans.