Emergency responders in Minnesota trusted capnography to save the life of a man whose heart had stopped for 96 minutes, according to an NPR story.
Capnography showed that despite not having a pulse, Howard Snitzer had good carbon dioxide readings, suggesting that blood was still flowing to the heart and brain, causing emergency responders to keep administering CPR even though it would have been reasonable to stop. Medical personnel shocked Snitzer’s heart 12 times and gave intravenous drugs to restore a regular heartbeat.
As capnography equipment becomes standard for emergency responders, DRE offers the DRE Waveline EZ or the DRE Echo CO2.
