Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Commons^™

Theoretically Optimal Duty Cycles For Chest And Abdominal Compression During External Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, Charles F. Babbs, Keir Thelander

Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications

Objective: To use an electronic model of human circulation to compare the hemodynamic effects of different durations of chest compression during external CPR, both with, and without interposed abdominal compression (IAC). Methods: An electrical analog model of human circulation was studied on digital computer workstations using SPICE, a general-purpose circuit simulation program. In the model the heart and blood vessels were represented as resistive-capacitive networks, pressures as voltages, blood flow as electric current, blood inertia as inductance, and cardiac and venous valves as diodes. External pressurization of the heart and great vessels, as would occur in IAC-CPR, was simulated by …