ABSTRACT
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation is required if a collapsed person is unresponsive, not breathing, and has no palpable pulse in a large artery such as the carotid or femoral. Sudden cardiac arrest still causes over 60% of deaths from coronary heart disease in adults. The aim is to maintain oxygenation of the brain and myocardium until a stable cardiac output is achieved. A skilled doctor with airway training may insert a cuffed endotracheal tube. This maintains airway patency, prevents regurgitation with inhalation of vomit or blood from the mouth or stomach, and allows lung ventilation without interrupting chest compressions. ventricular fibrillation is asynchronous, chaotic ventricular depolarization and repolarization producing no cardiac output. Pulseless ventricular tachycardia is a wide-complex, regular tachycardia associated with no clinically detectable cardiac output.
