Mechanical Devices for Prehospital CPR Are Not Beneficial

Mechanical cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) devices showed promise in early observational studies, with evidence of superior perfusion relative to manual CPR. In a meta-analysis, investigators pooled data from 15 observational studies and 5 randomized controlled trials to determine whether mechanical CPR conferred benefit. Outcomes were survival to hospital arrival, survival to hospital discharge, and neurologically intact discharge.

Pooled data from the observational studies suggested a benefit of mechanical ventilation over manual CPR for survival to hospital arrival (odds ratio, 1.42), but pooled data from the controlled trials showed no benefit (OR, 0.94). Neither observational studies nor controlled trials showed a benefit of mechani…