Recording Respiratory Activity and ECG for Automated Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Systems

Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is a global healthcare challenge where timely and continuous high-quality CPR significantly affects survival. Manual CPR is often limited by rescuer fatigue, position, or patient transportation. Alongside chest compressions, effective brain oxygenation is essential for favorable neurological outcomes. Mechanical chest compression devices address some limitations but lack features to monitor respiratory and cardiac activity or automatically stop when breathing is restored. This study aimed to develop a method for recording respiratory and electrical heart activity during CPR. Bipolar and tetrapolar lead configurations were compared for assessing breathing, focusing on current and measurement electrode setups. The proposed system, embedded in an automated CPR device, uses a tetrapolar lead configuration, as it enables reliable breathing registration during mechanical chest compression, outperforming the bipolar approach.