The intensive care specialist analyzed the myths popular in movies about helping with cardiac arrest

Olga Dobrenko, an anesthesiologist and intensive care specialist at the Siegen Clinic in Germany, analyzed on Friday, March 13, myths about saving people from cardiac arrest from films.

According to the expert, one of the main problems of cinema is that it erases the time factor.

"In the movies, it feels like resuscitation is a matter of technique. In reality, time plays the main role. The later chest compressions are started, the worse the prognosis for the brain and heart," she explained in an interview with Lenta.Ru .

The doctor noted that in movies, resuscitation often looks not only fast, but almost invariably successful, and the viewer gets the false feeling that CPR almost always works.

"In clinical practice, successful resuscitation is an event, not a routine, and survival even under ideal conditions remains limited," the doctor emphasized.

According to the resuscitator, misconceptions are also forming around the defibrillator: in most films it is used as a universal "restart button", although it helps only with certain life-threatening arrhythmias, primarily with ventricular fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia without a pulse.

"When the heart stops completely, there is no "restart". Chest compressions remain the basis of rescue," Dobrenko clarified.

She clarified that according to current guidelines, a witness to an event should call emergency services, assess breathing and, in its absence, immediately begin compression, since even unprofessional CPR significantly increases the chances of survival.

"It's much worse to wait, to be afraid of harm, or to waste time on questionable pulse checks," the expert emphasized.

She also mentioned other common household mistakes. The most common: compressions that are too weak or irregular, prolonged attempts to find a pulse, frequent interruptions, and premature refusal of intensive care.

"The goal of CPR is to ensure perfusion of the brain and heart at any cost," Dobrenko said.

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Earlier, on March 11, Tatyana Maklakova, a doctor of integrative medicine, a cardiologist at the lipidology center of the Murmansk "Be Healthy" center, told Izvestia that lowering the threshold of "high normal" blood pressure from 140/90 to 130/80 mmHg radically changes the approach to the prevention of cardiovascular diseases. It is now possible to identify patients at high risk without waiting for hypertension to develop.

In turn, cardiologist Alexey Utin said that normal blood pressure is pressure that is less than 120/80, and real hypertension begins at 140/90, reports RT.

According to him, hypertension is treated gradually. In addition to the appropriate medications, this is a diet with a reduction in salt intake, weight loss and sports, according to 360.ru .

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.