36th Annual Tutorials in the Tetons Update in Cardiovascular Disease, day 1---CPR update

Gordon Ewy, long time Chief of Cardiology at the University of Arizona and leading expert and pioneer in CPR, presented an update. He and his group in Arizona began advocating for compression only resuscitation for primary cardiac arrest in 1993. While Ewy’s protocol is the only change in resuscitation to make a dent in the mortality of out of hospital cardiac arrest, it took EBM over 15 years to catch up. Ewy’s recommendations encompass several changes around the importance of uninterrupted chest compressions and are now known as cardiocerebralresuscitation (CCR). Ewy presented the mounting and very compelling evidence of the superiority of CCR over traditional CPR as taught in the 2005 guidelines.

He also presented an update on the emerging post resuscitation bundle and the new mandate for regional centers for post resuscitation care.

These are exciting times for resuscitation science. It’s amazing that an editorial on CPR recently published in JAMA completely ignored this.