Agonal Breathing

A simulation of a sudden cardiac arrest with agonal respirations. Done by Ron Straight.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• radford
• cardiac
• arrest
• agonal
• breathing
• respiration
• lifeguard

[resolutionairy]

just did CPR on a middle-aged man this morning; it looked EXACTLY like this! Some bystanders were trying to tell me to stop CPR because they thought he was breathing, but fortunately I knew better (plus, he didn't have a pulse!). When the medics arrived, they hooked him up to an AED and it called for a shock, so there's no doubt that the CPR was necessary. He was breathing on his own when they loaded him up on the ambulance....

[mustng1987]

thats pretty damn good right there, thats exactly what I see in the field.

[southpaw7890]

This is a good example but agonal respirations can be a lot louder, more of an aggressive sucking.

[tingmarco1]

just known as a extreme bradycarina is a end with a asystole suffing.

[ryanbirch]

Can their eyes be open when this happens as well? Like a blank stare?

[foskco87]

Agonal breathing can be much more intense and distracting than this. I did an arrest a couple days ago and the man was breathing full loud breaths at a rate of 30/min. He still had a weak carotid but then arrested and continued to breath this way which made him appear to still be alive. We worked him for 40 minutes with ALS unsuccessfully and he was still breathing when we called it. I had never seen agonal breathing like that before.

[Tformosus]

@jakubvondrak Cant claim to have seen Agonal breathing yet myself, but this was pointed out as good example of what it's like - note the odd gulping mouth/tongue movements / irregular breaths - do a search for "Bondi lifeguards bring a man back to life! "

[jakubvondrak]

@resolutionairy I just saw video how this looks in reality and the difference was that the chest was not moving. He was not really breathing. Just opening mouth.

[Bunomous]

id be laughing

[fwed1]

Never would have though they would be like this. I have only ever had them described to me, never seen them.

[princexiaoxing]

OMG!!!!!!!!!! WHY ISN'T THE CAMERA MAN DOING ANYTHING ABOUT IT?!?!?! The man seems to be in distress!!!

Haha ok I'm not really serious about ^pls do not take offence :)... just attended to a case of cardiac arrest, first time encountering agonal breathing. Vid's great and helpful! Though I would say the rate of agonal breathing would be lower, probably around 3-4/min. And take note, with the OPA in, it seemed as though he was having gag reflex. when in doubt, always check for the carotid puls

[sheilastanaland]

My husband died in Dec 2010, and he collapsed in the hall of our house while I was trying to hold him up. I had no idea what the shaking was, or that his breathing was not real breathing. I did call 911 immediately, but they never mentioned to check his pulse. If I'd only known that it looked like this, I could have given him CPR - I took it a long time ago, but never heard about this kind of reaction. Thanks for posting - this answered a lot of questions I had.