Etiology and Epidemiology of Cardiac Arrest

(CPR) is most likely as old as human society itself.1 Depictions of mouth-to-mouth ventilation appear in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, and descriptions appear in the Bible. Modern CPR techniques emerged in the late 1950s and early 1960s, particularly through the refinements of Kouwenhoven, Jude, and Knickerbocker, who demonstrated the efficacy of closed-chest compression in cases of cardiac arrest.2 Since that time, there has been widespread acceptance of CPR as the cornerstone of basic cardiac life support, and external chest compression has become part of the standard method of managing cardiac arrest. Besides providing information on the etiology and epidemiology of cardiac arrest, this article will discuss in detail the steps involved in CPR, focusing on standard techniques but also addressing some variations in resuscitation methods. In addition, possible innovations in drug therapy and in prediction of outcome after cardiac arrest will be examined.