Mechanical chest compressions for cardiac arrest in the cath-lab : When is it enough and who should go to extracorporeal cardio pulmonary resuscitation?
Background: Treating patients in cardiac arrest (CA) with mechanical chest compressions (MCC) during percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is now routine in many coronary catheterization laboratories (cath-lab) and more aggressive treatment modalities, including extracorporeal CPR are becoming more common. The cath-lab setting enables monitoring of vital physiological parameters and other clini