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Frequency of rib and sternum fractures associated with out-of-hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation is underestimated by conventional chest X-ray

OBJECTIVE

Fractured ribs and sternum are frequent complications of thoracic compression during CPR in adults. This study was conducted to determine whether findings of plain chest radiography (CXR) correlate with post-mortem findings in patients who underwent cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

METHODS

CXR findings and autopsy results of CPR-related chest injuries comprising rib and sternum fractures were compared prospectively in 19 patients.

RESULTS

Fractures were diagnosed in nine of 19 patients by means of radiology and in 18 of 19 patients by autopsy (rib fractures in 6/19 versus 17/19, P=0.002; sternum fractures in 5/19 versus in 9/19, P=0.227. The total number of isolated bone fractures detected by CXR was 18 (12 rib and six sternum fractures) and by autopsy 92 (83 rib and nine sternum fractures). The majority of rib fractures was located in the anterior part of the thoracic cage. Sternum fractures predominantly occurred in the lower third. Eight of 19 patients received either thrombolytic or antithrombotic treatment during CPR but no major bleeding complication associated with CPR was detected by autopsy.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings of this study indicate that fractures associated with CPR are underreported in conventional radiographic investigations. No major bleeding complications related to CPR-associated fractures was detected.

Increased frequency of thorax injuries with ACD-CPR

A prospective, randomised out-of-hospital study in a two-tiered system with active compression-decompression (ACD) cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) versus standard (STD) CPR in patients following non-traumatic cardiac arrest was planned to test the hypothesis that ACD-CPR by the first tier may increase the occurrence of ventricular fibrillation as compared with STD-CPR. Furthermore, in a later phase of the study, sternal and rib fractures induced by both CPR methods were determined by extensive autopsy. After enrolling 90 patients the study was terminated because of a high frequency of chest injuries found at autopsy. Forty-two patients received STD-CPR from the first tier and ACD-CPR from the second tier. Thirty-three patients received ACD-CPR only by the first and the second tier, while 15 patients received STD-CPR only from the first and second tiers. In order to obtain a sufficiently large control group for autopsy findings after STD-CPR, STD-CPR was performed in an additional 33 patients within a second period of 4 months. There was no improvement in the number of patients found in ventricular fibrillation after ACD-CPR as compared to STD-CPR performed by the first tier. In patients undergoing autopsy (n = 35) there were significantly more sternal fractures with ACD-CPR versus STD-CPR (14/15 vs. 6/20; P <0.005) and rib fractures (13/15 vs. 11/20; P < 0.05) In conclusion, ACD-CPR appears to cause more CPR-related injuries than does standard CPR, but as a result of a number of limitations on this study, this fact cannot be proven beyond doubt.

Serious complications from active compression-decompression cardiopulmonary resuscitation

Complications arising from techniques of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) were reviewed by analysing the autopsy protocols of 25 patients who died after standard (Std) CPR and 31 who died after active compression-decompression (ACD) CPR, 15 of them preceded by Std CPR. The results can be summarised as follows: After Std CPR (n = 25) rib fractures were detected in 28%, sternal fractures in 16%, and no injuries in 68%. After ACD-CPR (n = 16) rib fractures occurred in 68%, sternal fractures in 68% and no injuries in 25%. After ACD-CPR following Std CPR(n = 15) rib fractures were detected in 93%, sternal fractures in 93%, and no patients were without thoracic fracture. In two patients severe cardiac injuries occurred clearly attributable to CPR. In conclusion cardiopulmonary resuscitation by the ACD-technique caused rib and sternal fractures more often than Std CPR and has a higher risk for iatrogenic cardiac and possible fatal injury.

CPR-induced trauma: comparison of three manual methods in an experimental model

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) often results in traumatic injury to the patient. Differences in CPR-induced trauma among various forms of manual, external CPR, however, are unknown. We compared CPR-induced trauma among manual standard (STD) CPR at 60 compressions per minute; high-impulse compression (HIC) CPR at 120 compressions per minute; and interposed abdominal compression (IAC) CPR at 60 compressions per minute. A large (24 +/- 3 kg) mongrel canine model was used. Ten animals were assigned to each type of CPR. Each received 17 minutes of CPR, applied to produce the best possible coronary perfusion pressure without obviously damaging the dog. Defibrillation was attempted at 20 minutes. Necropsy was performed at the time of death or after sacrifice at 24 hours. Careful postmortem examination of the thorax, lungs, heart, abdomen, and great vessels was performed. A semiquantitative trauma score of 0 to 5 was assigned to each area with a possible maximal score of 25. There was no difference in trauma scores among STD (6.4 +/- 1.5), HIC (9.4 +/- 1.4), and IAC (8.1 +/- 1.3) methods. No significant correlation was found between the method of CPR and the different types of trauma. Specifically, IAC did not produce an increase in liver lacerations nor did HIC produce a significant increase in thoracic or pulmonary injuries. Six of 20 initially resuscitated animals expired during the 24-hour follow-up period due to CPR-induced injuries. Four of these six had extensive pulmonary trauma, including pulmonary hemorrhage or edema. Liver lacerations were the second most lethal injury.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)