Critical care medicine
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Critical care medicine · Jul 2009
Initial defibrillation versus initial chest compression in a 4-minute ventricular fibrillation canine model of cardiac arrest.
Previous laboratory and clinical studies have demonstrated that chest compression preceding defibrillation in prolonged ventricular fibrillation (VF) increases the likelihood of successful cardiac resuscitation. The lower limit of VF duration when preshock chest compression provides no benefit has not been specifically studied. We aimed to study the effect of order of defibrillation and chest compression on defibrillation and cardiac resuscitation in a 4-minute VF canine model of cardiac arrest. ⋯ In this 4-minute VF canine model of cardiac arrest, the order of initial defibrillation or initial chest compression does not affect cardiac resuscitation.