Regional blood flow during cardiopulmonary resuscitation with abdominal counterpulsation in dogs.

The addition of abdominal counterpulsation to standard cardiopulmonary resuscitation (AC-CPR) during ventricular fibrillation has been shown to improve cardiac output, oxygen uptake, and central arterial blood pressure in dogs. The present study was performed to determine the effect of AC-CPR on regional blood flow. Regional blood flow was measured with radioactively labeled microspheres during sinus rhythm and during alternate periods of AC-CPR and standard CPR (STD-CPR) in nine dogs anesthetized with pentobarbital. Blood pressures and oxygen uptake were measured continuously. As in previous studies, diastolic arterial pressure was higher (30.8%) during AC-CPR than during STD-CPR, as were cardiac output (24.5%) and oxygen uptake (37.5%). Whole brain and myocardial blood flow increased 12.0% and 22.7%, respectively, during AC-CPR. Blood flow to abdominal organs was not changed appreciably in response to abdominal compression, and postmortem examination revealed no gross trauma to the abdominal viscera. The AC-CPR technique is simple and is easily added to present basic life support procedures. In light of the improvements observed in myocardial and cerebral blood flow, AC-CPR could significantly improve the outcome of CPR attempts.