Transport with ongoing resuscitation: a comparison between manual and mechanical compression

Aim In special circumstances it may be necessary to transport out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients with ongoing resuscitation to the hospital. External mechanical chest compression devices could be an alternative for these resuscitations. The study compares manual chest compression with external mechanical devices and a semiautomatic device in transport conditions using a resuscitation manikin. Methods Manual chest compressions were compared with LUCAS 2, AutoPulse and animax mono devices using the Ambu Man Wireless MegaCode manikin (10 series each). The measurements were performed in a standard ambulance vehicle during transport on a predefined track of 5.0 km. Results Mean compression frequencies in the manual group (117±18 min−1) and in the animax mono group (115±10 min−1) were significantly higher than in the LUCAS 2 group (100 min−1, p=0.02) and the AutoPulse group (80 min−1, p