Why is chest recoil important during CPR?

Why is chest recoil important during CPR?

• A. Increase intrathoracic pressure
• B. Improve venous return and cardiac filling.
• C. Decrease stroke volume
• D. Increase lung inflation

Answer: (B)

Chest recoil is important because it creates negative pressure in the chest after each compression, which sucks blood back toward the heart and fills the ventricles for the next beat. That enhanced venous return and ventricular filling (preload) help produce a stronger stroke on the next compression and improve overall blood flow to vital organs during CPR. If you don’t allow full recoil, intrathoracic pressure stays elevated, venous return drops, preload decreases, and the effectiveness of every subsequent compression is reduced, lowering perfusion to the heart and brain. The other ideas don’t fit as the primary benefit: increasing intrathoracic pressure would actually hinder venous return; decreasing stroke volume is a consequence of poor recoil, not the goal; and while the lungs may inflate a bit during recoil, the main purpose is to restore blood flow back to the heart, not lung inflation.

Chest recoil is important because it creates negative pressure in the chest after each compression, which sucks blood back toward the heart and fills the ventricles for the next beat. That enhanced venous return and ventricular filling (preload) help produce a stronger stroke on the next compression and improve overall blood flow to vital organs during CPR. If you don’t allow full recoil, intrathoracic pressure stays elevated, venous return drops, preload decreases, and the effectiveness of every subsequent compression is reduced, lowering perfusion to the heart and brain.

The other ideas don’t fit as the primary benefit: increasing intrathoracic pressure would actually hinder venous return; decreasing stroke volume is a consequence of poor recoil, not the goal; and while the lungs may inflate a bit during recoil, the main purpose is to restore blood flow back to the heart, not lung inflation.