Manual pressure augmentation to enhance defibrillation in cardiac arrest

A shortcut review of the literature was conducted to determine whether manual pressure augmentation improves the outcome from cardiac arrest. A total of nine publications were screened by title and abstract and one study (a case report and literature review) underwent full-text review. A further review of bibliographies of relevant papers found one further relevant study protocol. Details about the author, date of publication, country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes (survival and return of spontaneous circulation rate), results and study limitations were tabulated. The clinical bottom line is that, in adult patients in ventricular fibrillation or ventricular tachycardia, manual pressure augmentation during defibrillation may reduce impedance. This might improve defibrillation success, but there is insufficient evidence to recommend this without further research.