The new CPR

LYNN – A new form of the classic version of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) now allows bystanders who witness a person in cardiac distress to provide a simple “hands only” method without worrying about mouth-to-mouth contact.The new method, known as cardiocerebral resuscitation, or CCR, was pioneered by heart researchers at the University of Arizona, and stresses hard and fast chest compressions versus the older method of mouth-to-mouth breathing, or mechanical ventilation when performed by paramedics or untrained bystanders.Nancy Crotty, education specialist at the Family Resource Division, who has offices at Salem Hospital and Union Hospital in Lynn, last week touted the new method.?It?s a really big step for laypeople in the community to be able to use this method 2without any mouth-to-mouth contact,” she said. “People need to remember to call 911 first though.”According to research studies, survival rates from performing traditional CPR have remained dismal for decades, at 5 percent or lower, whether performed by trained paramedics or bystanders.Crotty said CCR would now empower those who witness a person in cardiac distress to provide help, rather than idly stand by in confusion.?People are afraid that something will go wrong or that they could get a communicable disease by using mouth to mouth,” she said. “So people will be much more comfortable with the new method.”Crotty said the new method has been in use since 2005, and training courses will be offered starting in the summer months.?This is absolutely going to be used and will be taught during evening classes,” she said. “The classes will be useful for those who are looking for jobs in the medical field as well as anyone else.”Crotty stressed that the CPR method would still be used for infants, children, drowning cases and drug overdoses, where the mouth-to-mouth technique would be crucial.Dr. Gordon Ewy, director of the University of Arizona Sarver Heart Center and co-author of a report comparing cardiac-arrest survival rates achieved by paramedics before and after they were trained with CCR, said the key to improved survival with minimal brain damage is to get blood flowing back to the heart and brain.?That?s what chest compressions do,” he said. “Any interruption of that – what happens when you stop to do breathing or ventilation – stops that blood flow and that risks brain damage or death.”Paramedics in the study using the old CPR method were able to save 1.8 percent of cardiac arrest victims, while 5.4 percent of victims were saved when using the CCR method, which requires rapid chest compressions without giving the patient a breath.The figures measure survival of the patient to discharge from the hospital, not just getting to the hospital.Ewy?s resuscitation research group at the Sarver Center developed the CCR method and first presented it in Tucson in 2003.