Old school CPR

[Leon Greene]

[attachment=2336]

(07-14-2016 04:22 PM)Maykeith Wrote:  I just finished reading "Our Assassinated Presidents-the true medical stories" by Stewart Brooks. While discussing the events of the Lincoln assassination he tells of Dr. Leale's initial examination the the box. He notes that he initiated artificial respiration by straddling the president and forcefully inserted two fingers into Lincoln's mouth to hold down his tongue while 2 assistants manipulated Lincoln's arms up and down. Simultaneously Leale pressed the diaphragm upward. That is some crazy CPR......Does anyone know backstory on this method, when did they figure out about chest compressions and did the antiquated style ever actually save anyone's life?

Also interesting to note that in between rounds (not sure how long or how many) Leale was realeasing the clot in Lincoln's head and performing rescue breathing. I can't imagine the pandemonium in the box with Mary screaming, Rathbone bleeding profusely, Lincoln grasping at life and Leale trying to do all of his medical work. I can't imagine there was enough room for all that crazy.

While I can't comment on the truth of Dr. Leale's application of CPR to President Lincoln, I can provide a summary of the "accepted" method of CPR published in the medical journal Lancet in 1856. The technique was indeed cumbersome. It was occasionally used in battlefield hospitals, at times continued for up to two hours, almost never successfully. The "successful" cases likely occurred in patients without a true cardiac arrest. [attachment=2336]

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(07-15-2016 12:12 AM)Leon Greene Wrote:  

(07-14-2016 04:22 PM)Maykeith Wrote:  I just finished reading "Our Assassinated Presidents-the true medical stories" by Stewart Brooks. While discussing the events of the Lincoln assassination he tells of Dr. Leale's initial examination the the box. He notes that he initiated artificial respiration by straddling the president and forcefully inserted two fingers into Lincoln's mouth to hold down his tongue while 2 assistants manipulated Lincoln's arms up and down. Simultaneously Leale pressed the diaphragm upward. That is some crazy CPR......Does anyone know backstory on this method, when did they figure out about chest compressions and did the antiquated style ever actually save anyone's life?

Also interesting to note that in between rounds (not sure how long or how many) Leale was realeasing the clot in Lincoln's head and performing rescue breathing. I can't imagine the pandemonium in the box with Mary screaming, Rathbone bleeding profusely, Lincoln grasping at life and Leale trying to do all of his medical work. I can't imagine there was enough room for all that crazy.

While I can't comment on the truth of Dr. Leale's application of CPR to President Lincoln, I can provide a summary of the "accepted" method of CPR published in the medical journal Lancet in 1856. The technique was indeed cumbersome. It was occasionally used in battlefield hospitals, at times continued for up to two hours, almost never successfully. The "successful" cases likely occurred in patients without a true cardiac arrest.

The attachment that I included doesn't seem to appear unless you click on the box at the end of my post. It's the figure from the 1856 Lancet article illustrating the CPR technique. And now the box itself has disappeared. Sorry about my computer skills. I'll try to figure out how to make it work.