Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 1994 Aug;272(8):617-8.

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation and rib fractures in infants. A postmortem radiologic-pathologic study

M R Spevak  1 , P K Kleinman, P L Belanger, C Primack, J M Richmond
Affiliations
  • PMID: 8057518

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation and rib fractures in infants. A postmortem radiologic-pathologic study

M R Spevak et al. JAMA. 1994 Aug.

Abstract

Objective: To determine the incidence of rib fractures visible at autopsy or with postmortem radiographs after cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in infants younger than 1 year.

Design: Retrospective review.

Setting: Medical examiner's office in a county consisting of a medium-sized city, towns, and rural areas.

Patients: Ninety-one infants (56 males, 35 females; mean age, 2.4 months; age range, 26 hours to 8.5 months) without evidence of child abuse who had undergone CPR before death.

Methods: Medical records, skeletal surveys, and autopsy results were reviewed.

Results: No patient had rib fractures.

Conclusions: Cardiopulmonary resuscitation is unlikely to cause rib fractures in infants.

PubMed Disclaimer