A novel hands-free carotid ultrasound detects low-flow cardiac output in a swine model of pulseless electrical activity arrest.

Objective: To determine if a hands-free, noninvasive Doppler ultrasound device can reliably detect low-flow cardiac output by measuring carotid artery blood flow velocities. We compared the ability of observers to detect carotid artery flow velocity differences between pseudo-pulseless electrical activity (PEA) and true-PEA cardiac arrest.

Methods: Five swine were instrumented with aortic (Ao) and right atrial pressure-transducing catheters.

Non-invasive continuous cerebral temperature monitoring in patients treated with mild therapeutic hypothermia: an observational pilot study.

Aim Of The Study: To investigate if body temperature as measured with a prototype of a non-invasive continuous cerebral temperature sensor using the zero-heat-flow method to reflect the oesophageal temperature (core temperature) during mild therapeutic hypothermia after cardiac arrest.

Methods: In patients over 18 years old with restoration of spontaneous circulation after cardiac arrest, a temperature sensor that uses the zero-heat-flow principle was placed on the forehead during the periods of cooling and re-warming. This temperature was compared to oesophageal temperature as the primary temperature-monitoring site.

An automated carotid pulse assessment approach using Doppler ultrasound.

During cardiac arrest emergencies, lay rescuers are required to manually check the patient's carotid pulse after the delivery of defibrillation shocks to assess the cardiac resuscitation progress of the patient. As a more automated way of monitoring the resuscitation progress, a new Doppler-ultrasound-based carotid pulse assessment approach is presented in this paper. The method works by analyzing the temporal aperiodicity of Doppler shifts seen in the ultrasound echoes returned from the patient's carotid arteries.