Cardiac arrest, speed and defibrillator save lives

Lea is a fuchsia leopard. Kang is an anthropomorphic kangaroo with pink fur. He is apparently clumsy, but he really knows how to do great deeds. The two are the protagonists of a unique video game of its kind, which teaches how to fight against time to save the crew of the spaceship on which the two travel from heart failure and suffocation. The game is called “Codename: ResUs“, and can be downloaded for free from the App Store and Google Play. He wants to introduce children, in a fun and engaging way, to the correct” moves “to perform to rescue a person suffering from cardiac arrest or airway obstruction. This playful aspect dedicated to the youngest is one of the many novelties it offers VIVA!, the week for cardiopulmonary resuscitation promoted by the Italian Resuscitation Council (IRC), scheduled from 10 to 16 October, There are initiatives open to the public and aimed at schools and children with the aim of informing about simple life-saving maneuvers, such as heart massage and automatic defibrillation.

The danger of cardiac arrest

Approximately 400,000 cardiac arrests occur each year in Europe (60,000 in Italy) and it is estimated that only in 58% of cases the carer intervenes with life-saving maneuvers (heart massage, ventilations) and in 28% of cases with the defibrillator. Precisely on this front, Italy needs to implement the law on the use of AEDs as soon as possible (automatic external defibrillators) entered into force one year ago. According to Silvia Scelsipresident of IRC, “it is important for the new government to issue the implementing decrees necessary to put into practice the excellent law that introduced innovative and essential elements, such as compulsory training in schools on cardiopulmonary resuscitation and the obligation for various places very frequented (such as swimming pools, gyms, schools, offices and stations) to install a defibrillator (AED), in addition to the legal protection of the occasional rescuer who uses the AED to save a person suffering from cardiac arrest “.

What to do in case of cardiorespiratory arrest

Knowledge is key to improving the chances of survival for those who experience cardiac arrest. It is therefore essential that those who witness cardiac arrest, know how to recognize it, call 112/118 and, guided by the operators of the operations center, start cardiopulmonary resuscitation maneuvers, such as cardiac massage. Obviously, if the device is available, an AED should be used to proceed with defibrillation as soon as possible, pending the arrival of help. In order, therefore, for those who help it is necessary to alert and send the advanced rescue service to take the situation in hand as soon as possible. The interval between the onset of cardiac arrest and the arrival of the Rescue Service is precious for the patient’s life, as in the absence of adequate interventions the chances of saving him and avoiding irreversible brain damage due to the absence of blood flow to the brain they drop by 10% every minute.

How to do heart massage

Salvation can come from heart massage. What to do? A hand is placed in the center of the chest of the person in cardiac arrest, in correspondence with the heart, and a movement is practiced that includes 100/120 very firm chest compressions per minute, which introflect the chest by about 5 centimeters).

The smartphone could help rescue in case of cardiac arrest

11 November 2020

The importance of resuscitation

Cardiac massage allows you to try to maintain a circulation condition while waiting for the arrival of the defibrillator, which can only resolve cardiac arrest by canceling the cardiac arrhythmia that generates the circulation arrest. The current availability of semi-automatic defibrillators (the defibrillator independently analyzes, using the plates placed on the patient’s chest, the type of arrhythmia underlying the arrest, but the electrical shock delivered to the patient requires the intervention of a trained operator) and above all automatic defibrillators (the defibrillator autonomously performs the analysis of the arrhythmia and the delivery of the electric shock) has made it possible to significantly increase the survival rate from cardiac arrest. But obviously it is necessary that the greatest number of people are aware of the technique and of the resuscitation maneuvers. This is the goal of the week which is divided into initiatives open to the public in over 20 Italian cities aimed at informing and raising awareness on the importance of first aid in the event of cardiac arrest. On 14 and 15 October at the Auditorium della Tecnica in Rome, the National Congress of IRC is held entitled “Trauma, new evidence and paths” in which over 500 experts will take stock of the latest guidelines on emergency medicine and first aid .