How does CPR work?

A heart attack can 'stun' the heart and interrupt its rhythm and ability to pump. This is because the heart does not receive enough oxygen and cannot pump blood around the body. There is no heartbeat (pulse) because the heart is not working. The medical term for a heart attack is an acute myocardial infarction (AMI). read more

You do CPR when there’s no oxygenated blood going to the brain. The purpose of CPR is to get oxygenated blood to the brain. It works by moving air in and out of the lungs to facilitate gaseous exchange, and by compressing the heart to squeeze blood in and out, forcing it around the circulatory system (valves in the heart generally keep it going one way). read more

CPR works in two parts. If the patient is unable to breathe, the blood becomes vastly depleted of oxygen, a critical requirement for the organs and tissues of the body to survive. By delivering rescue breaths, we are mimicking the casualty breathing and hence delivering oxygen (from our breath) into their lungs and blood. read more

Without CPR, at normal body temperature, both organs would be damaged beyond chances of survival within about 10 minutes. In doing this, CPR also extends the time during which a heart can be successfully defibrillated (a defibrillator is the single most effective tool to treat cardiac arrest). read more

Sep 24, 2013. Dr. Troy Madsen talks about the realities of CPR: does it work as well in real life as it does on TV, why do you give CPR and how giving CPR has changed in the past few years. read more