†These authors contributed equally.
Academic Editors: Peter A. McCullough and Eli Israel Lev
Background: Current studies focus primarily on skeletal injuries
following cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Few studies report on
intrathoracic injuries (ITI) and none, to our knowledge, focus exclusively on
cardiovascular injuries related to cardiac massage. This study was based on
autopsy findings and assessed the incidence of non-skeletal CPR related injuries
related to chest compression. Methods: This was a retrospective forensic
autopsy cohort study conducted in a single institution after resuscitation.
Pathologists recorded autopsy data using standardized protocol contained
information from external and internal examination of the body. Results:
Thirty-eight autopsy reports (21 males and 17 females), post- CPR-failure were
studied. Heart lesions were reported in 19 patients (group A). The average age
was 65.7 years (69.05 group A and 66.5 group B). Median weight was 75.2 Kg and
was significantly higher in group B (p = 0.01). Pericardial lesions were
identified in 6 patients in group A and 2 in group B (p = 0.2 ns). No
significant difference was observed among the two groups (Table