Cardiac massage in infants

Excerpt

A 3-month-old boy with no known history of medical problems became unconscious while lying in a pram pushed by his parents. Immediately, resuscitative efforts were attempted by external cardiac massage and assisted ventilation followed by repeated administration of adrenaline and dopamine. The heart resumed sporadic beating for a few hours, with an electrocardiographic finding of right bundle branch block and downsloping of the ST segment but no clear-cut sign of ischemia (Fig. 1). External cardiac massage was performed for a total of 90 min in two successive bouts. This consisted of standard closed chest compressions at a rate of 80–100 compressions per minute. In the meantime the general condition and laboratory values of the persistently unconscious baby worsened, and the patient was pronounced dead 26 h after hospitalization from cardiocirculatory arrest altered by a diffuse anoxic-ischemic cerebral injury and acidosis.

…