More than 350,000 people die from cardiac arrest each year in the United States. In Chicago, that rate falls to 22 percent. More research needs to be done, the panel insists, to prepare new guidelines for the year 2000. Without significant blood flow, even with the low level of blood flow produced by chest compressions, forcing air into the lungs will not make much difference. Besides, when the heart stops, oxygen levels in the blood decline gradually.
Many patients continue to gasp for air and chest compressions induce some air exchange.
Studies have found that from 10 to 35 percent of patients who receive CPR inhale stomach contents, emitted after air is blown into the stomach rather than to the lungs. And time allocated to ventilation, especially if only one rescuer is involved, is subtracted from the efforts to provide chest compressions. When people practice CPR on a dummy they imagine Cindy Crawford or Tom Cruise, but the guys who drop in the supermarket tend to resemble Rodney Dangerfield. CPR is already far too rare and is becoming even less common. First, call 911.