New resuscitation program shows major improvement in patient outcome after cardiac arrest

ZOLL Medical Corporation (NasdaqGS: ZOLL) announced today that in a “Best of the Best” presentation at the American Heart Association Resuscitation Science Symposium in Orlando Florida, Daniel P. Davis, M.D., presented research from the University of California Resuscitation Research Center that shows a major improvement in patient outcome after cardiac arrest.

Dr. Davis stated, “Since the implementation of the program in 2007, patients at the hospital are three times more likely to survive an unexpected cardiac arrest and twice as likely to survive with good neurological outcome than was possible before this new initiative.” The program consists of a number of elements including a new and innovative Advanced Resuscitation Training program, a new and novel in-patient treatment algorithm, education, a rapid response team, and new technology to improve pre-, intra- and post- resuscitation care and process, according to Dr. Davis.

The program utilizes a number of technological innovations provided in ZOLL equipment used system-wide in the University of California San Diego Hospitals, where Dr. Davis is Director of Resuscitation. Specific capabilities of the equipment relate to monitoring and improving CPR performance and process. All of the ZOLL E Series® monitor defibrillators used for resuscitation at UCSD include Real CPR Help® real-time feedback; See Thru CPR^®, industry-unique filtering technology that allows clinicians to view a patient’s underlying cardiac rhythm by filtering CPR artifact during resuscitation efforts; and sidestream and mainstream ETCO2 monitoring capability. ZOLL’s CodeNet^® software collects all resuscitation and CPR process data when a resuscitation event occurs and permits the post-event review of the entire resuscitation event and process.

Dr. Davis reported high compliance with goals for the provisioning of adequate chest compression rate and depth, reduction of pre- and post- shock interruptions to CPR, shortened pulse check pauses, and better coordination of compressions and ventilations. Rescuers achieved a 91% CPR fraction with the new protocols and ZOLL See-Thru CPR and the CPR feedback, and measurement provided by Real CPR Help. Data recorded during resuscitations demonstrated CPR rates at 123 compressions per minute on average and an average depth of 2.6 inches. Pauses during CPR were significantly shortened to less than five seconds for any reason, and the incidence of immediate CPR on discovery of an arrest was improved as well after the training.

“We are very pleased about the report from UCSD and confident the improvements reported by Dr. Davis can be realized in many other hospitals and EMS operations that select ZOLL products,” said Jonathan A. Rennert, President of ZOLL. “We are very committed to helping agencies translate these unique ZOLL technologies into meaningful improvement in outcomes from cardiac arrest.”