A new physiological manikin to test and compare ventilation devices during cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Background: There is a lack of bench systems permitting to evaluate ventilation devices in the specific context of cardiac arrest.

Objectives: The objective of the study is to assess if a new physiological manikin may permit to evaluate the performances of medical devices dedicated to ventilation during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

Methods: Specific CPR-related features required to reproduce realistic ventilation were implemented into the SAM (Sarthe Anjou Mayenne) manikin. In the first place, the manikin ability to mimic ventilation during CPR was assessed and compared to real-life tracings of airway pressure, flow and capnogram from three out of hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) patients. In addition, to illustrate the interest of this manikin, ventilation was evaluated during mechanical continuous chest compressions with two devices dedicated to CPR: the Boussignac cardiac arrest device (B-card - Vygon; Ecouen France) and the Impedance Threshold Device (ITD - Zoll; Chelmsford, MA).

Results: The SAM manikin enabled precise replication of ventilation tracings as observed in three OHCA patients during CPR, and it allowed for comparison between two distinct ventilation devices. B-card generated a mean, maximum and minimum intrathoracic pressure of 6.3 (±0.1) cmHO, 18.9 (±1.1) cmHO and -0.3 (±0.2) cmHO respectively; while ITD generated a mean, maximum and minimum intrathoracic pressure of -1.6 (±0.0) cmHO, 5.7 (±0.1) cmHO and -4.8 (±0.1) cmHO respectively during CPR. B-card allowed to increase passive ventilation compared to the ITD which resulted in a dramatic limitation of passive ventilation.

Conclusion: The SAM manikin is an innovative model integrating specific physiological features that permit to accurately evaluate and compare ventilation devices during CPR.