[Out-of-hospital use of transcutaneous cardiac pacing]

Transcutaneous cardiac pacing is a non-invasive method for the treatment of serious bradycardias and asystolic cardiac arrest. Due to its simplicity this method does not require a long-lasting education. It can be quickly applied avoiding all the risks connected with the central venous cannulation. Taking into consideration the above mentioned advantages, transcutaneous cardiac pacing has become a well-known method of choice for an emergency temporary cardiac pacing. This refers especially to the use of transcutaneous cardiac pacing in out-of-hospital medical centers. This work shows two cases of successful cardiac pacing in the patients with life threatening bradycardias under the conditions of medicine on the island. The conclusion is that the equipment for transcutaneous cardiac pacing should become a part of the standard resuscitation equipment in all our centers that are involved in the activities of emergency medicine.