Can you help a cardiac arrest victim without giving mouth to mouth breathing?

Can you help a cardiac arrest victim without giving mouth to mouth breathing?

What is cardiac arrest?

Cardiac arrest is sudden stoppage of the pumping activity of the heart. The vital organs cease receiving oxygenated blood and stop functioning soon. The person loses consciousness soon and falls down due to loss of postural muscle tone. A superficially similar situation is a fainting attack, which is transient and recovers spontaneously. Cardiac arrest can be recognized by absence of pulses and gasping or absent breathing. Unless immediate steps are taken to restore the functioning of the heart, the brain becomes dead and the person cannot survive. Measures to start the heart pumping has to take place within the vital 4 minutes for best results.

What are the types of cardiac arrest?

Cardiac arrest could be due to two types of electrical mechanism. One is complete cessation of all electrical activity of the heart, known as asystole. The other type is a fine irregular electrical activity known as ventricular fibrillation. Ventricular fibrillation is the more common mechanism and is a fine irregular, very fast electrical activity which does not permit organized contraction of the ventricles, the lower muscular chambers.

What is conventional cardiopulmonary resuscitation of a cardiac arrest victim?

Conventional cardiopulmonary resuscitation involves supporting the heart beats and the breathing. Regular chest compressions are given to squeeze out the blood from the heart into the circulation.  Compressions of the chest should be firm enough to depress the breast bone or sternum by about 5 cm and at least 100 per minute. The chin has to be lifted up to prevent the tongue from blocking the throat. Mouth-to-mouth breathing can be given by taking a deep breath and blowing into the mouth of the victim, keeping the nostrils closed.

Why are people hesitant to give cardiopulmonary resuscitation?

Since cardiopulmonary resuscitation involves giving mouth-to-mouth breathing, many are hesitant to do it for a stranger. It is mostly due to fear of acquiring infections from an unknown person. This fear is unlikely to go off in this era with increasing prevalence of infectious diseases. Sometimes the social embarrassment is also an issue in providing mouth-to-mouth breathing in a public place.

Cardiac only resuscitation or compression only resuscitation

Cardiac only resuscitation, also known as compression only resuscitation, is probably the only solution to improve the rates of resuscitation in public places. In cardiac only resuscitation, only chest compressions are given and no mouth-to-mouth breathing is given. Studies have shown that cardiac only resuscitation is not very inferior to standard cardiopulmonary resuscitation in adults. This is probably because chest compression itself can move some air in and out of the lungs, even without giving mouth-to-mouth respiration. It will certainly pump some blood with residual oxygen content to the brain in the early period after cardiac arrest. If started immediately after cardiac arrest, this may sustain life till emergency medical services arrive and improve the chance of survival. Compression only resuscitation is also an accepted modality of bystander resuscitation of cardiac arrest victims. This may increase the number of individuals resuscitated in public places.