Resuscitation Science: From the Beggining to the Present Day

Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death in the Western world, with 350,000 Americans and 700,000 Europeans sustaining cardiac arrest each year. Indeed, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an emergency procedure to be performed as soon as possible after collapse in the attempt to restore spontaneous circulation and respiration. Resuscitation is a relatively modern science, although its roots extend back in the centuries. The earliest report of a resuscitation attempt, in fact, has been described in the Bible, in the Old Testament, where “the life of a boy was restored by placing a mouth in the boy mouth”. However, until the nineteenth century, routine resuscitation from death was not viewed as feasible. Yet, as early as the nineteenth century, resuscitation by delivery of an electrical shock was demonstrated. Indeed, modern CPR emerged only during the latter half of the twentieth century. A sequence of interventions was established in the 1960s under the acronym ABCD, namely airway, breathing, chest compression, and defibrillation. Although to some extent now modified to take into account priorities of chest compression over the airway, breathing, and defibrillation, the ABCD acronym continues to have a determinant role and practical utility.