CARDIOPULMONARY TOPICS

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), emergency procedure used to treat victims of cardiac and respiratory arrest. CPR can be done in a hospital with drugs and special equipment or as a first-aid technique. In either case it is done with great urgency to avoid the brain damage or death that result from four to six minutes without oxygen. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation in the hospital is an aggressive technique employing drugs and defibrillation equipment, which administers an electrical shock to the heart in an attempt to restore the heartbeat. There is some controversy surrounding its use in patients whose prognosis is poor.