Assessment of the evolution of end-tidal carbon dioxide within chest compression pauses to detect restoration of spontaneous circulation

PLoS One. 2021 May 18;16(5):e0251511. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0251511. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

Background: Measurement of end-tidal CO2 (ETCO2) can help to monitor circulation during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). However, early detection of restoration of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) during CPR using waveform capnography remains a challenge. The aim of the study was to investigate if the assessment of ETCO2 variation during chest compression pauses could allow for ROSC detection. We hypothesized that a decay in ETCO2 during a compression pause indicates no ROSC while a constant or increasing ETCO2 indicates ROSC.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of adult out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) episodes treated by the advanced life support (ALS). Continuous chest compressions and ventilations were provided manually. Segments of capnography signal during pauses in chest compressions were selected, including at least three ventilations and with durations less than 20 s. Segments were classified as ROSC or non-ROSC according to case chart annotation and examination of the ECG and transthoracic impedance signals. The percentage variation of ETCO2 between consecutive ventilations was computed and its average value, ΔETavg, was used as a single feature to discriminate between ROSC and non-ROSC segments.

Results: A total of 384 segments (130 ROSC, 254 non-ROSC) from 205 OHCA patients (30.7% female, median age 66) were analyzed. Median (IQR) duration was 16.3 (12.9,18.1) s. ΔETavg was 0.0 (-0.7, 0.9)% for ROSC segments and -11.0 (-14.1, -8.0)% for non-ROSC segments (p < 0.0001). Best performance for ROSC detection yielded a sensitivity of 95.4% (95% CI: 90.1%, 98.1%) and a specificity of 94.9% (91.4%, 97.1%) for all ventilations in the segment. For the first 2 ventilations, duration was 7.7 (6.0, 10.2) s, and sensitivity and specificity were 90.0% (83.5%, 94.2%) and 89.4 (84.9%, 92.6%), respectively. Our method allowed for ROSC detection during the first compression pause in 95.4% of the patients.

Conclusion: Average percent variation of ETCO2 during pauses in chest compressions allowed for ROSC discrimination. This metric could help confirm ROSC during compression pauses in ALS settings.

Publication types

  • Clinical Trial
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Carbon Dioxide / metabolism*
  • Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest* / metabolism
  • Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest* / therapy
  • Retrospective Studies

Substances

  • Carbon Dioxide

Grants and funding

Authors JJG, JMR, IA, and SRG received research support from the Basque Government through the grant IT1087-16 (for research groups), and author ML through the predoctoral grant PRE-2019-2-0251. https://www.euskadi.eus Authors JJG, JMR, ML, and SRG received research support from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities through the grant RTI2018-094396-B-I00 and author DMGO from the program Torres Quevedo PTQ-16-08201. http://www.ciencia.gob.es/ None of the above organizations had any additional role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Bexen Cardio (http://www.bexencardio.com) provided support in the form of salaries for author DMGO, but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Authors JFU, JKR and MRD received no funding for this work. The specific role of each author is articulated in the Author Contributions section.