A large Japanese study has shown that victims of cardiac arrest have a 50 % higher chance of survival if someone gives them heart massage alone instead of combining it with breathing into their lungs.
The "Kiss of Life," also known as mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, has been a regularly taught and practiced approach to resuscitation for 50
years.
The study investigated the medical histories of 4068 people who suffered from a heart attack and collapsed in the presence of another person. Almost three-fourths of these victims received no resuscitation at all. Of the remaining persons studied, however, those who received only heart compressions were 50% more likely to be alive and without brain damage a month later.
Only a minute portion of those studied actually survived: 6% of those that received only heart compressions as opposed to 4% that received traditional CPR.
Ken Nagao, the study's leader and a doctor at Tokyo's Suragadai Nihon University Hospital, has stated several reasons as to why chest compressions alone might be the best approach instead of the traditional cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
Chest compressions are meant to re-establish blood flow to the heart. If they have not already done so, then stopping to perform mouth-to-mouth ventilation may actually cause harm instead of helping the victim. Nagao also pointed out that people are very hesitant to lock lips with a stranger, but are much more likely to attempt hands-only resuscitation.
"This reluctance is party caused by fear of transmission of infectious diseases," Dr. Nagao wrote in the medical journal The Lance. "Another barrier to bystanders attempting CPR is the complexity of the technique as presently taught."
Most patients who suffer brain damage from sudden cardiac arrest do not survive, says resuscitation researcher, Gordon Ewy of the University of Arizona.
The "Kiss of Life," also known as mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, has been a regularly taught and practiced approach to resuscitation for 50
The study investigated the medical histories of 4068 people who suffered from a heart attack and collapsed in the presence of another person. Almost three-fourths of these victims received no resuscitation at all. Of the remaining persons studied, however, those who received only heart compressions were 50% more likely to be alive and without brain damage a month later.
Only a minute portion of those studied actually survived: 6% of those that received only heart compressions as opposed to 4% that received traditional CPR.
Ken Nagao, the study's leader and a doctor at Tokyo's Suragadai Nihon University Hospital, has stated several reasons as to why chest compressions alone might be the best approach instead of the traditional cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
Chest compressions are meant to re-establish blood flow to the heart. If they have not already done so, then stopping to perform mouth-to-mouth ventilation may actually cause harm instead of helping the victim. Nagao also pointed out that people are very hesitant to lock lips with a stranger, but are much more likely to attempt hands-only resuscitation.
"This reluctance is party caused by fear of transmission of infectious diseases," Dr. Nagao wrote in the medical journal The Lance. "Another barrier to bystanders attempting CPR is the complexity of the technique as presently taught."
Most patients who suffer brain damage from sudden cardiac arrest do not survive, says resuscitation researcher, Gordon Ewy of the University of Arizona.
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