Status of Closed Chest Cardiac Massage

This paper describes the steps in the development of the closed chest defibrillator which led to the discovery that, by applying external heart massage to the closed chest with concomitant artificial respiration, it is possible to provide sufficient artificial circulation of oxygenated blood to maintain the heart and brain alive for an hour or more. The results of the application of cardiopulmonary resuscitation to 301 patients at The Johns Hopkins Hospital are also presented and discussed.