Forget the Mouth-to-Mouth

Ivanhoe Newswire
Friday, March 16, 2007; 12:00 AM

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- If you witness someone having a heart attack, forget the mouth-to-mouth part of resuscitation.

Japanese researchers report laypeople have a much better chance of keeping a heart attack victim alive until paramedics arrive if they just perform chest compressions.

In a study of more than 4,000 out-of-hospital resuscitations performed by non-medical bystanders, the survival rate for victims who received chest compressions alone was 22 percent. For patients who received traditional CPR, which consists of chest compressions plus mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, the survival rate was only about 10 percent.

In an accompanying editorial, Gordon A. Ewy, M.D., director of the Sarver Heart Center at The University of Arizona in Tucson, where the chest compression-only method originated, writes the compression-only method is better for heart attack victims because it keeps the blood flowing through the body. Stopping chest compressions to deliver mouth-to-mouth breaths interrupts that process and does more harm than good.

Chest compression-only resuscitation also increases the likelihood a bystander will administer the life-saving treatment, because many people report they would not perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on a stranger due to fears of contracting a communicable disease.

While emphasizing drowning victims, those who are choking, or those who are suffering from a drug overdose will still require mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, Dr. Ewy writes,

"Advocating, encouraging, and teaching chest-compression-only for witnessed unexpected sudden collapse will dramatically increase bystander-initiated resuscitation efforts and thereby give these patients a better chance of survival when emergency personnel arrive."

This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, which offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, click on: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.

SOURCE: The Lancet, published online March 17, 2007