BackgroundMechanical chest compression devices may help to maintain high-quality cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), but little evidence exists for their effectiveness. We evaluated whether or not the introduction of Lund University Cardiopulmonary Assistance System-2 (LUCAS-2; Jolife AB, Lund, Sweden) mechanical CPR into front-line emergency response vehicles would improve survival from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA).ObjectiveEvaluation of the LUCAS-2 device as a routine ambulance service treatment for OHCA.DesignPragmatic, cluster randomised trial including adults with non-traumatic OHCA. Ambulance dispatch staff and those collecting the primary outcome were blind to treatment allocation. Blinding of the ambulance staff who delivered the interventions and reported initial response to treatment was not possible. We also conducted a health economic evaluation and a systematic review of all trials of out-of-hospital mechanical chest compression.SettingFour UK ambulance services (West Midlands, North East England, Wales and South Central), comprising 91 urban and semiurban ambulance stations. Clusters were ambulance service vehicles, which were randomly assigned (approximately 1 : 2) to the LUCAS-2 device or manual CPR.ParticipantsPatients were included if they were in cardiac arrest in the out-of-hospital environment. Exclusions were patients with cardiac arrest as a result of trauma, with known or clinically apparent pregnancy, or aged < 18 years.InterventionsPatients received LUCAS-2 mechanical chest compression or manual chest compressions according to the first trial vehicle to arrive on scene.Main outcome measuresSurvival at 30 days following cardiac arrest; survival without significant neurological impairment [Cerebral Performance Category (CPC) score of 1 or 2].ResultsWe enrolled 4471 eligible patients (1652 assigned to the LUCAS-2 device and 2819 assigned to control) between 15 April 2010 and 10 June 2013. A total of 985 (60%) patients in the LUCAS-2 group received mechanical chest compression and 11 (< 1%) patients in the control group received LUCAS-2. In the intention-to-treat analysis, 30-day survival was similar in the LUCAS-2 (104/1652, 6.3%) and manual CPR groups [193/2819, 6.8%; adjusted odds ratio (OR) 0.86, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.64 to 1.15]. Survival with a CPC score of 1 or 2 may have been worse in the LUCAS-2 group (adjusted OR 0.72, 95% CI 0.52 to 0.99). No serious adverse events were noted. The systematic review found no evidence of a survival advantage if mechanical chest compression was used. The health economic analysis showed that LUCAS-2 was dominated by manual chest compression.LimitationsThere was substantial non-compliance in the LUCAS-2 arm. For 272 out of 1652 patients (16.5%), mechanical chest compression was not used for reasons that would not occur in clinical practice. We addressed this issue by using complier average causal effect analyses. We attempted to measure CPR quality during the resuscitation attempts of trial participants, but were unable to do so.ConclusionsThere was no evidence of improvement in 30-day survival with LUCAS-2 compared with manual compressions. Our systematic review of recent randomised trials did not suggest that survival or survival without significant disability may be improved by the use of mechanical chest compression.Future workThe use of mechanical chest compression for in-hospital cardiac arrest, and in specific circumstances (e.g. transport), has not yet been evaluated.TriaI registrationCurrent Controlled Trials ISRCTN08233942.FundingThis project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment programme and will be published in full inHealth Technology Assessment; Vol. 21, No. 11. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information.

ObjectivesWe set out to assess the health care resource utilization and cost of cervical cancer from the perspective of a single-payer health care system. MethodsRetrospective observational data for women diagnosed with cervical cancer in British Columbia between 2004 and 2009 were analyzed to calculate patient-level resource utilization patterns from diagnosis to death or 5-year discharge. Domains of resource use within the scope of this cost analysis were chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and brachytherapy administered by the BC Cancer Agency; resource utilization related to hospitalization and outpatient visits as recorded by the B.C. Ministry of Health; medically required services billed under the B.C. Medical Services Plan; and prescriptions dispensed under British Columbia's health insurance programs. Unit costs were applied to radiotherapy and brachytherapy, producing per-patient costs. ResultsThe mean cost per case of treating cervical cancer in British Columbia was $19,153 (standard error: $3,484).Inpatient hospitalizations, at 35%, represented the largest proportion of the total cost (95% confidence interval: 32.9% to 36.9%). Costs were compared for subgroups of the total cohort. ConclusionsAs health care systems change the way they manage, screen for, and prevent cervical cancer, costeffectiveness evaluations of the overall approach will require up-to-date data for resource utilization and costs. We provide information suitable for such a purpose and also identify factors that influence costs.

Our study demonstrates that the use of the mechanical chest compression device LUCAS-2 represents poor value for money when compared to standard manual chest compression in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

A79 and common comorbid conditions included diabetes (27.3%), tumor (23.6%) and moderate or severe renal disease (21.2%). Simvastatin (7.3%), lisinopril (5.9%) and hydrocodone bitartrate/acetaminophen (5.1%) were the most frequently prescribed medications. During the follow-up period, PC patients had evidence of the following health care utilizations: Medicare carrier (98.0%), Durable Medical Equipment (DME, 32.1%), Home Health Agency (HHA, 12.1%), outpatient visits (75.9%) and inpatient hospital (29.5%), Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF, 7.2%) and hospice admissions (5.4%) and prescription drug (part D event) claims (43.7%). PC patients incurred higher Medicare carrier