The Thoracic Pump Provides a Mechanism for Coronar

Authors: John Michael Criley

Publish Date: 1995/06/12

Volume: 155, Issue: 11, Pages: 1236-1236

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Abstract

Tucker et al1 in their article entitled Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Historical Perspectives Physiology and Future Directions in the October 101994 issue of the Archives reviewed the two physiologic theories that have been proposed to explain the mechanisms of blood flow during cardiopulmonary resuscitation CPR the direct cardiac compression and thoracic pump models They concluded that both mechanisms are not necessarily mutually exclusive and that both mechanisms may be operant 1 sentiments with which my coworkers and I agreeHowever we take strong issue with the authors concluding statement in the Thoracic Pump Model section the thoracic pump model provides no mechanism at all for blood flow to the coronary circulation 1 This claim is later contradicted by their own text in the Vest CPR section in which they cite improved coronary perfusion and survival and coronary flow of 40 to 60 of normal in dogs and

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