Circulation
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Despite the development of trained mobile rescue squads, cardiopulmonary collapse outside the hospital continues to carry a poor prognosis. We examined retrospectively the clinical courses of 19 consecutive coronary unit patients who had experienced prehospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Seven patients received basic life support from bystanders within five minutes. ⋯ The early-resuscitated patients also had less residual central nervous system and myocardial damage on discharge than the late-resuscitated patients. On follow-up, three early-resuscitated patients had returned to full-time work compared with none in the late group. Training laymen to initiate early basic life support can benefit the cardiopulmonary collapse victim.