Pre-hospital care in Lund, Sweden doubles survival rates for sudden
cardiac arrest
8 December 2006
Lund, Sweden. The Swedish City of Lund has for the last three years
(2003-2005) claimed the top position in one-month survival rates of
out-of-hospital cardiac arrest victims in the Swedish National Registry of
Cardiac Arrest.
This was presented at the Swedish CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation)
congress in Gothenburg last month, strongly indicating that KAMBER, the
organization of pre-hospital care in this region, has found an efficient way
to save more lives.
13.7% of the victims in Lund are alive one month after the event. This is
close to double the Swedish national average of 7.3%. A distinguishing
factor in Lund is the implementation of the automatic LUCAS Chest
Compression System in all ambulances. LUCAS provides mechanical
compressions, which helps to ensure critical circulation to the heart and
brain in a situation where time is limited.
"We are happy to see that Lund has kept the top position in the National
Registry since the aim of our organization has been to optimize the chain of
survival all the way from the scene to definite care in the hospital. As a
part of this, focus has been to optimize the ability to give enduring CPR
with good quality over time, with a minimum of exposure for EMS personnel to
traffic hazards during transportation," comments Dr. Johan Silfverstolpe, MD
at KAMBER.
"KAMBER in Lund is a pioneer worldwide in implementing LUCAS. Already in
2002, the LUCAS device was deployed in service and it's very exciting to
follow the progress in survival rates. The experiences of our Swedish and
other European customers are very encouraging, which is important as we are
currently introducing LUCAS widely in Europe and now also in the US," says
Erik von Schenck, CEO of Jolife AB, the manufacturer of the LUCAS device.
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