New resuscitation procedure proves to be a real lifesaver

You have a better chance than ever of surviving cardiac arrest in King County, thanks to a new resuscitation procedure now practiced by all medics here.

The survival rate has increased to 46 percent from 33 percent during the years 2002 through 2004 — an all-time high.

"If we saw what happened here translated across the country, it would result in hundreds, if not thousands, of more lives saved each year," said Dr. Thomas Rea, the medical director of King County Medic One who headed a study that tested the new procedure.

The new procedure emphasizes more cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) combined with the electric shocks given to restore the heart to its normal rhythm. Before 2005, medics applied shocks as many as three times before giving any CPR, compressing the chest and breathing air into the lungs. Now the procedure is to give one shock followed quickly by two minutes of CPR, then repeat.

The change was made because emergency-medicine experts weren't seeing improvements in survival rates from widespread use of shocks from automatic defibrillators. They reasoned that more CPR is needed along with the shocks to move oxygen-rich blood around to all vital organs.

"I think CPR helps maintain more blood flow and prime the heart to better accept the shocks," said Rea, who is also a University of Washington associate professor of medicine based at Harborview Medical Center.

Nationally, only about 15 percent of people survive cardiac arrest after resuscitation outside a hospital.

King County has long had one of the best such survival rates in the U.S.

The success of the new procedure is reported in this week's edition of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. Rea said the research needs to be replicated in other studies, but the finding are "very encouraging."

Warren King: 206-464-2247 or wking@seattletimes.com