Via practica 3/2023

What the new guidelines about basic and advanced life support of adults tell us. Case studies

The article provides a summary of the main recommendation for basic and advanced cardiopulmonary resuscitation of adults according to the 2021 update European Resuscitation Council (ERC) recommended practices. For comprehensive information, we advise to read the original version from the ERC website. The text includes two valuable case studies from ambulance delivering emergency medical servis. The first case points to minor traffic accident involving a passenger car due to circulatory arrest of the driver and the second case reports circulatory arrest of young man caused by pericardial tamponade. The authors highlight the need for recognition of circulatory arrest and early resuscitation by the first witness of this situation using AED before the arrival of professional aid and the importance of outof- hospital point of care ultrasound (POCUS) to detect and treat a reversible cause of cardiac arrest. The availability of ultrasonography and trained staff on emergency medical service vehicles would better identify patients who can be potentially saved.

Keywords: cardiopulmonary resuscitation, defibrillation, automated external defibrillator (AED), out-of-hospital point of care ultrasound (POCUS), pericardiocentesis