Presently, resuscitation is guided by a standardised protocol which includes only rhythm detection for decision support. We suggest an extended diagnostics, which is primarily based on the ventricular fibrillation (VF) ECG and provides information on the physiological status of the patient. Thereby, the removal of artefacts resulting from cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) becomes desirable. The performance of different VF ECG parameters is discussed with respect to their capability to predict the success of subsequent defibrillation attempts. Two new algorithms for CPR artefact removal are...