08 Jan Patient gasping is an indicator of cardiac arrest survival
SAN DIEGO — Gasping patients in cardiac arrest tend to have better outcomes. This research finding was shared by Dr. Gordon Ewy at the Emergency Cardiovascular Care Update 2015. According to Ewy, while breathing comes from the brain, gasping comes from the brainstem. For patients in v-fib cardiac arrest, gasping starts around the two-minute mark, crescendoing in frequency, and then decrescendoing until stopping about five minutes into an arrest. For patients who had witnessed arrests, 55 percent were found to be gasping...