Imagine standing in an ambulance driving 100 km/hour where the vehicle swings and lurches. Apart from the balancing act you are in, you must also give heart- and lung saving treatment to a patient who’s life is in jeopardy. This is the moment when LUCAS is needed, a mechanical chest compression system, which is powered by a lithium-polymer battery from Celltech.

LUCAS is a mechanical chest compression system, which helps lifesavers, ambulance personnel, doctors and nurses to save people’s lives in the critical situation of a cardiac arrest. LUCAS is keeping the blood circulation going until a heart starter is available and can start the heart beating again.

BeeGees ”Stayin Alive”

It is hard work for the ambulance personnel to provide chest compressions manually. In addition to that, the rescuers also put their own safety and health at risk when they stand up and deliver chest compressions during transportation. Continuous, uninterrupted and high-quality chest compressions are required to maintain blood circulation to the brain, Henrik Isaksson, Purchasing Manager at Jolife AB who manufacture LUCAS, explains.

– You must press down the thorax firmly 100 times per minute with a compression depth of 5 cm. The beat should be like BeeGees “Staying Alive”

The first version of LUCAS was pneumatic. Whereas the latest versions, LUCAS 2 and 3, are powered by a 25.9V, 3.3Ah lithium-polymer battery. The battery has an extremely high energy density, which ensures LUCAS is able to perform powerful chest compressions during 45 minutes on a single battery.

Smaller, less weight and with more energy

LUCAS has been developed by the manufacturer Jolife in close cooperation with the Lund University Hospital. Jolife turned to Celltech with their extremely high demands on the battery solution and Celltech proposed a lithium-polymer battery.

The advantage with the lithium-polymer batteries is that they are smaller, lighter and contain more energy, Jesper Björkén tells us.

LUCAS is exported globally.

– Companies who are developing this type of products are fantastic! We can only congratulate all organizations, which have access to a LUCAS

“LUCAS is a very important product, Jesper Björkén, Managing Director at Celltech says. We are excited to deliver batteries for such an important life-saving tool. We contribute to saving people’s lives.”