Coronary blood flow and perfusion pressure during coronary angiography in patients with ongoing mechanical chest compression: a report on 6 cases.
Patients with pulseless electrical activity or refractory ventricular fibrillation have a very bad prognosis. Coronary angiography and angioplasty may be required to restore an effective circulation, but this must be performed whilst chest compressions are continued. The LUCAS chest compression device is suitable for this purpose. So far there are no reports on the effect of this device on coronary circulation in humans. We monitored the coronary perfusion pressure assessed invasively as the difference between the diastolic pressures at the coronary ostium and right atrium, and compared these pressures with coronary flow graded using the TIMI scale in 6 patients. In 4 out of 6 we found a satisfactory coronary artery perfusion pressure and TIMI grade 3 flow (normal) on coronary angiography. Two of these patients survived the first 24h. Two patients did not have a satisfactory perfusion pressure and adequate flow rate was not seen.
Department of Cardiology, Stavanger University Hospital, Stavanger, Norway; University of Bergen, Institute of Internal Medicine, Norway. alfil@broadpark.no
Alf Inge
AI
Larsen
Ashild
A
Hjørnevik
Vernon
V
Bonarjee
Ståle
S
Barvik
Tor
T
Melberg
Dennis Winston
DW
Nilsen
D000328:Adult; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016887:Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation / Q000295:instrumentation; D017023:Coronary Angiography; D003326:Coronary Circulation / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged