Studies: CPR Without Rescue Breathing OK Bystanders Who Only Do
Chest Compressions Save Nearly as Many, Researchers Find July
28, 2010 -- Bystanders who perform CPR on patients with
suspected heart attacks can safely skip the rescue breathing --
typically called mouth-to-mouth resuscitation -- and just
perform the chest compressions, according to two new studies.
''We feel comfortable saying chest compressions alone, when
performed by a layperson, will provide at least the benefit that
conventional CPR, with rescue breathing, will provide,"
researcher Thomas D. Rea, MD, medical director for King County,
Wash., Medic One, tells WebMD. The suggestion to skip the mouth-
to-mouth part of CPR, he emphasizes, does not apply to emergency
medical personnel, but only to laypeople who may be able to
provide CPR after a suspected heart attack while waiting for
professional medical help to arrive. Rea's study, along with
another head-to-head comparison of the two CPR approaches, is
published in the New England Journal of