2Physiology Department, School of Biomedical & Health Sciences, King's College London, ... during the 2-4 min required to prepare the current medical restraint.
Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation during Parabolic Flight Réanimation Cardio-pulmonaire dans le Vol Parabolique
Thais Russomano1, João Castro1, John Ernsting2, Lisa Evetts3 & Simon Evetts4 1
Microgravity Centre, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil Physiology Department, School of Biomedical & Health Sciences, King’s College London, UK 3 Lattitude Productions, Rushlake Green. UK. 4 Crew Medical Support Office, European Astronaut Centre, Cologne, Germany. 2
Address for Communication: J. Ernsting, Academic Centre, School of Biomedical & Health Sciences, Henriette Raphael House, Guy's Campus, King's College London, SE1 1UL, United Kingdom Introduction: If a cardiac arrest occurs in microgravity the aim of emergency procedures is to treat the patient in a restrained position with the aid of emergency apparatus. Unrestrained treatment will be necessary during the 2-4 min required to prepare the current medical restraint system for conventional Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR). The capability for one unaided person to successfully perform free-floating CPR is important. The Evetts-Russomano (ER) method involves the practitioner placing his/her left leg over the right shoulder of the patient so that the left foot is behind and across the patient’s back. The practitioner’s right leg is placed around the patient’s back so that the practitioner’s right foot is in the region of the inter-scapula area. Once in this position the practitioner’s ankles are crossed to aid muscular stability, thereby reducing the work of the upper limb muscles. From this position both external chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth ventilation are performed. Method. Three subjects performed the ER method on an instrumented CPR manikin during microgravity in parabolic flight and at +1Gz pre/post flight. The manikin was modified to provide measures of the depth of chest compression and lung ventilation in microgravity. Results. The mean (± SE) depth and rate of chest compression in microgravity were 41.3 ± 1.0 mm and 80.2 ± 3.4 compressions.min-1 respectively. The mean microgravity rate of compression was significantly less than (p0.05) from +1Gz values (43.6 ± 0.59 mm). The mean (±SE) tidal volume in microgravity was 491 ± 50.4 ml, which did not differ (p>0.05) from +1Gz values (507.6 ± 11.5 ml). Conclusion. Although some difficulties occurred in performing this method during parabolic flight, the study suggests that it is possible to conduct unaided, single person CPR successfully in microgravity.
