Cardiology, policy  

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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