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Medical journal article prompts Memorial to purchase CPR pump

Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center announced in February that it has equipped its Emergency Department with a new, lifesaving tool to help staff members treat sudden cardiac arrest.

The ZOLL AutoPulse™ Non-invasive Cardiac Support Pump promotes normal blood flow to the heart and brain during cardiac arrest. It can achieve such never-before-seen levels of circulation by generating consistent chest compressions that move blood more effectively than any other method used in Western New York today.

"Once a person is in cardiac arrest, every minute counts to get the heart beating normally again," said Dr. Michael Merhige, medical director of The Heart Center of Niagara at Memorial Medical Center. "For every minute that passes the chance of survival decreases by 10 percent. After 10 minutes, survival is unlikely. Our goal is to protect the lives of area residents and this purchase is an important step in helping to achieve that goal."

Memorial has been testing a demonstration model of The ZOLL AutoPulse™ for the past several months and found it to be a dependable performer in producing effective, consistent chest compressions for staff members administering cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

"As the front line troops in the battle against this killer cardiac menace, we're proud to be among the first in the nation to give our patients a better chance for survival by employing this promising new technology," said Dr. Leonard Franco, Memorial's chief of Emergency Services.

The decision to purchase the $17,000 system was accelerated by an article published last month in the Journal of the American Medical Association, said Memorial President and CEO Joseph A. Ruffolo.

"The data in that story made our decision a no-brainer," Ruffolo said.

Wire service coverage that was picked up locally by both the Buffalo News and Niagara Gazette cited the JAMA article, which detailed two separate studies that concluded CPR is often performed inadequately by medical professionals and paraprofessionals on patients in cardiac arrest.

Among the commonly cited shortcomings: compressions that either weren't hard enough or frequent enough to restart the victim's heart.

In a University of Chicago study, doctors and nurses failed to follow at least one CPR guideline four out of every five times and commonly failed to follow several. The other study, conducted in Stockholm, London and Akershus, Norway, analyzed CPR applied to out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients by paramedics and nurse anesthetists. In that study, chest compressions were done only half the time, and most were done improperly.

Researchers said the stress and bedlam of a real-life emergency sometimes causes practitioners to improperly apply CPR skills learned in the classroom. They added that chest compressions strong enough to break a victim's ribs are sometimes necessary, and rescuers can tire quickly.

"The JAMA report makes it clear that standard CPR is often ineffective," Dr. Franco said.

Sudden cardiac arrest is an abrupt disruption of the heart's function that causes a lack of blood flow to vital organs, which can result in the loss of blood pressure, pulse and consciousness. It is the leading cause of unexpected death in the world and strikes without warning.

In the U.S. alone, there are more than 460,000 deaths each year from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

The AutoPulse is an FDA-approved device that offers the promise of restoring normal blood flow levels in SCA victims. An automated, portable device, it features a backboard and a simple LifeBand™ that fastens across a victim's chest. The AutoPulse compresses the entire chest in a consistent "hands-free" manner, circulating much more blood than could ever be moved with human hands during CPR.

In addition, it frees up medical personnel to focus on other life-saving interventions.

"Memorial Medical Center operates the busiest emergency room in the Greater Niagara area," said Emergency Department Acting Manager Desiree Korbs, RN. "Our goal is to make sure it's the best. Implementing AutoPulse™ will help us do exactly that."

For more information about ZOLL and its products, visit www.zoll.com. For more information on SCA, visit www.americanheart.org or www.early-defib.org.