How Continuous Chest Compression saves lives

magine that you are walking down a city street and a person collapses in front of you. He is having a heart attack, and he needs instant assistance. What are you going to do?

For decades the technique known as CPR (Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation) has been the technique to use. CPR has saved thousands of lives in situations just like this. It was invented by Peter Safar and has been heavily promoted since the 1960s. Millions of people have gone through training classes with the Red Cross and other organizations. But CPR is now getting a face lift, and it no longer requires formal training. The new technique is called Continuous Chest Compression, or CCC.

CPR has been able to save so many lives because is immediately solves the biggest problem that occurs during a heart attack. In a large number of heart attacks, the heart is still perfectly functional. It has not died, nor has it ruptured. It simply has gotten confused and has started fibrillating instead of beating. You can think of a healthy heart as a big muscle that contracts in a useful way about once every second. A fibrillating heart has lost that rhythm, and instead is a muscle that is uselessly quivering.

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