title: Benefit of mechanical chest compression devices in mountain HEMS: lessons learned from 1 year of experience and evaluation.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Pre-hospital care of cardiac arrest patients in the mountain environment is one of the most challenging problems for helicopter medical emergency services (HEMS) teams. To provide high-quality chest compression with minimal hand s-off-time is very demanding in the alpine area.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used and evaluated mechanical chest compression devices (Lucas and AutoPulse) and investigated if these are good and useful tools in the alpine HEMS. Over a period of 12 months we performed 7 CPRs in remote alpine terrain.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  On the strength of our past experience, CPR under special circumstances like deep hypothermia, in which a prolonged CPR is essential, the use of the Lucas and/or AutoPulse was an easy and sufficient tool even in difficult alpine terrain which requires special rescue missions like winch or MERS evacuation.
authors.affiliation: Kantonsspital St Gallen Klinik für Anästhesiologie, Raron, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Urs
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Pietsch
authors.affiliation: Hochtaunus-Kliniken gGmbH, Krankenhaus Bad Homburg, Abteilung für Anästhesie und operative Intensivmedizin, Raron, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Volker
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Lischke
authors.affiliation: Schwarzwald-Baar-Klinikum, Villingen-Schwennigen Klinik für Neurochirurgie, Villingen-Schwenningen, Germany. Electronic address: pietsch@gmx.de.
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pietsch
mesh_terms: D017732:Air Ambulances; D016887:Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation; D035641:Chest Wall Oscillation / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004864:Equipment and Supplies; D006323:Heart Arrest / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D008348:Manikins; D009051:Mountaineering