Objective: To develop an image based technique to study the effect of different ventilatory strategies on lung ventilation and alveolar recruitment during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
Design: (1) Technical development of the following components: (a) construction of an external chest compression device, which does not interfere with CT imaging, and (b) development of a software tool to detect lung parenchyma automatically and to calculate radiological density parameters. (2) Feasibility studies: three strategies of CPR ventilation were performed and imaged in one animal each (pigs, 25 kg): volume-constant ventilation (VCV), no ventilation, or continuous airway pressure (CPAP). One minute after induction of circulatory arrest inside the CT scanner, external chest compressions started at a rate of 100 cpm, and one of the ventilation modes was initiated. After 1 min, intravenous epinephrine was added as a bolus (40 microg/kg), followed by a continuous infusion (13 microg/kg per min). Six minutes later, dynamic CT acquisitions (temporal resolution: 100 ms) commenced. Simultaneously, arterial blood gases, acid base status and haemodynamics were sampled.
Results: Using a modified chest compression device, dynamic CT acquisitions are feasible during closed-chest CPR. In three pilot experiments with different ventilation strategies, the dedicated software tool allowed to quantify ventilated, atelectatic and over-distended fractions of total lung area. VCV showed a large amount of atelectasis, which was recruited during every respiratory cycle. No ventilation led to atelectasis to govern over 50% of the total lung area. CPAP caused less atelectasis as VCV, and no cyclic recruitment and de-recruitment phenomena were observed.
Conclusions: We demonstrate a novel experimental set up, which allows quantification of different lung compartments during ongoing CPR and may become useful in comparing the direct pulmonary effects of different ventilatory strategies in the settings of Basic and Advanced Cardiac Life Support.