Acute cardiac care & resuscitation
Delays in chest compressions during out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: carotid versus subxiphoid point of care ultrasound
Authors' conclusion
Paramedic-obtained carotid POCUS demonstrated a significant increase in view adequacy and fewer extended CPR pauses, as compared to subxiphoid views.
Study context
- Population
- Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) patients managed by paramedics of a suburban, third-service emergency medical services (EMS) agency
- Participants
- 107 patients248 POCUS recordings
- Exposure
- Carotid vs subxiphoid POCUS for pulse determination
- Outcome
- View adequacy and compression pause duration
Methodological detailssingle EMS agency, within-patient comparison
- Single EMS agency
- Within-patient comparison
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Compression pauses <10 s and adequate views
Pauses <10 s
Adequate view
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Overall pause length and view adequacy
%
- Pause lengths <10 s
- 73 (n = 195)
- Adequate view
- 62 (n = 153)
Interrater reliability of image adequacy
- Kappa
- 0.85
- Agreement
- 93 %
Original publication
Delays in chest compressions during out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: carotid versus subxiphoid point of care ultrasound. Resuscitation. Published 30 December 2025. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →