heart and blood vessel disorders
Cardiac Arrest and CPR
Compression Only CPR
Compression-only (sometimes called hands-only) CPR involves giving continuous chest compressions without rescue breathing. Compression-only CPR is recommended when the rescuer does not have training in standard CPR or is unable or unwilling to do rescue breathing. For infants, children, and people in whom the cause of cardiac arrest seems to be from stopping breathing, such as those who have drowned, standard CPR with rescue breaths is preferred. However, if rescuers are unwilling or unable to do artificial respiration, they should still do compression-only CPR even on people who are thought to have cardiac arrest due to a problem with breathing. To do chest compressions for cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), a rescuer kneels to one side and, with the arms held straight, leans over the person and places both hands, one on top of the other, just above (about two finger widths) the lowest part of the breastbone (called the xiphoid process). The rescuer compresses the chest to at least 2 inches (5 centimeters) in adults. The chest is compressed about 100 to 120 times per minute, allowing it to fully rise back up to its starting height, between each compression. 