Cardiac arrest and cardiopulmonary resuscitation in "hostile" environments: Using automated compression devices to minimize the rescuers' danger.

Mechanical automated compression devices are being used in cardiopulmonary resuscitation instead of manual, "hands-on", rescuer-delivered chest compressions. The -theoretical- advantages include high-quality non-stop compressions, thus freeing the rescuer performing the compressions and additionally the ability of the rescuer to stand reasonably away from a potentially "hazardous" victim, or from hazardous and/or difficult resuscitation conditions. Such circumstances involve cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory, especially directly under the fluoroscopy panel, where radiation is well known to cause detrimental effects to the rescuer, and CPR during/after land or air transportation of cardiac arrest victims. Lastly, CPR in a coronavirus disease 2019 patient/ward, where the danger of contamination and further serious illness of the health provider is very existent. The scope of this review is to review and present literature and current guidelines regarding the use of mechanical compressions in these "hostile" and dangerous settings, while comparing them to manual compressions.

In vivo correlation between morphological characteristics of coronary plaques and functional characteristics of carotid arteries in acute coronary syndrome.

BACKGROUND: Carotid artery temperature heterogeneity (ΔΤ) measured by microwave radiometry (MWR) has been associated with future cardiovascular events including acute coronary syndromes. The vulnerable plaques of the coronary arterial tree, that can be ideally depicted by intracoronary imaging such as optical coherence tomography (OCT) have anatomical characteristics such as the thin fibrous cap (TCFA), that make them vulnerable to rupture. The scope of the study was to assess the implication of the carotid artery temperature heterogeneity on the culprit coronary plaque morphology in patients presenting with acute myocardial infarction. METHODS: 34 patients presented with an acute myocardial infarction were enrolled in the study. All patients underwent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and OCT for the evaluation of the anatomical characteristics of the culprit lesion. After the completion of the PCI all patients underwent carotid ultrasound and MWR of both carotid arteries and thermal heterogeneity of the carotid arteries was assessed. Blood samples were collected for high sensitivity C-reactive protein (CRP) analysis. RESULTS: Thirty four patients, 21 with STEMI (61.76%) and 13 (38.23%) with NSTEMI, were included in the study. Patients with ruptured plaques had significantly increased hsCRP compared to patients that did not have a ruptured plaque (14.41±4.02 vs 9.9±2.5, P<0.005). Thermal heterogeneity, was significantly increased in ruptured plaques compared to no ruptured ones (1.01±0.31 vs 0.51±0.14°C, P=0.001), and in plaques with TCFA compared to those without a TCFA (0.82±0.37 vs 0.60±0.05°C, P=0.001). Diabetes mellitus, ΔΤ and hsCRP, were entered in the multivariate analysis, from which DM (OR 4.12; 95% CI 0.77-22.07; P=0.07) and ΔΤ (OR for 0.1°C increase 1.43; 95% CI 1.03-1.98; P=0.03) remained in the final analysis, and only ΔΤ was independently associated with the presence of the TCFA. Regarding plaque rupture, STEMI, hsCRP, and ΔT were entered in the multivariate analysis from which hsCRP (OR 1.51; 95% CI 0.99-2.28; P=0.051) and ΔΤ (OR for 0.1°C increase 3.40; 95% CI 1.29-8.96; P=0.013) remained in the final analysis with the ΔT being the only variable.

CardioPulmonary Resuscitation in patients with suspected or confirmed Covid-19. A consensus of the Working group on CardioPulmonary Resuscitation of the Hellenic Society of Cardiology.

The unprecedented for modern medicine pandemic caused by the SARS-COV-2 virus ("coronavirus", Covid-19 disease) creates in turn new data on the management and survival of cardiac arrest victims, but mainly on the safety of CardioPulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) providers. The Covid-19 pandemic resulted in losses of thousands of lives, and many more people were hospitalized in simple or in intensive care unit beds, both globally and locally in Greece. More specifically, in victims of cardiac arrest, both in- and out- of hospital, the increased mortality and high contagiousness of the SARS-CoV-2 virus posed new questions, of both medical and moral nature/ to CPR providers. What we all know in resuscitation, that we cannot harm the victim and therefore do the most/best we can, is no longer the everyday reality. What we need to know and incorporate into decision-making in the resuscitation process is the distribution of limited human and material resources, the potentially very poor outcome of patients with Covid-19 and cardiac arrest, and especially that a potential infection of health professionals can lead in the lack of health professionals in the near future. This review tries to incorporate the added skills and precautions for CPR providers in terms of both in- and out- hospital CPR.

Metabolic syndrome and exaggerated blood pressure response to exercise in newly diagnosed hypertensive patients.

BACKGROUND: Running evidence supports a prognostic value of an exaggerated blood pressure response to exercise (EBPR). The impact of the metabolic syndrome (MS) on EBPR in hypertensive patients has not been investigated. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study in the setting of an outpatient hypertension clinic. METHODS: In total, 325 non-diabetic patients with newly diagnosed hypertension were divided into two groups based on the presence (n = 95) or absence (n = 230) of the MS as defined with NCEP-ATP III criteria. All subjects underwent ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, echocardiography and exercise treadmill testing. RESULTS: Hypertensive patients with MS exhibited higher prevalence of EBPR (by 17%, p = 0.002) and peak exercise systolic BP (by 10.4 mmHg, p = 0.001) irrespectively of confounders. Metabolic equivalents were higher in hypertensives with MS (by 0.6 ml/kg/min, p = 0.048), but the difference lost significance after adjusting for confounders, including body mass index. Logistic regression analysis identified the MS as an independent predictor of an EBPR (p = 0.016). Hypertensive patients with MS had a 2.3-fold risk of exhibiting EBPR compared to those without MS. However, individual components of MS altogether as well as each one separately failed to predict EBPR. CONCLUSIONS: Presence of MS in newly diagnosed hypertensive patients is associated with increased peak exercise BP and a higher frequency of EBPR over and above its separate elements.