Mechanical cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Mechanical cardiopulmonary resuscitation is used by prehospital and intrahospital personnel to provide basic and advanced life support. It has several advantages over manual CPR. Major advances have been made to produce convenient portable units that provide reliable, improved ventilation and cardiac compression. More sophisticated techniques under development would effect changes in prehospital emergency care procedures because they require endotracheal intubation. Mechanical CPR will logically be important in implementing these techniques.