Man, 35, suffers cardiac arrest several times, survives after timely intervention at government hospital in Chennai
The Hindu
The patient, a schoolteacher, was taken to the government hospital at Saidapet on February 28 after he complained of chest pain and as ECG showed signs of a heart attack, he was given first aid and shifted to Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital
A 30-minute Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), six shocks at intervals, angioplasty in 18 minutes and coordination between the emergency and cardiac teams helped revive a 35-year-old man, who suffered seven or eight cardiac arrests at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH) recently.
According to doctors, the patient, a schoolteacher, was taken to the government hospital at Saidapet on February 28 after he complained of chest pain. After an ECG showed signs of a heart attack, he was given first aid and shifted to the RGGGH.
At the emergency department, a team started CPR on him. “He was wheeled in at 8.55 a.m., unconscious and with no heartbeat. He was warm to touch and so, we knew that it was a fresh cardiac arrest. CPR was started immediately and he was put on a ventilator to support his lungs. CPR is given for 20 minutes and considered a cardiac arrest if the patient is not revived within that time. But in this case, we continued CPR for 30 minutes after arterial blood samples showed that he had discrepancies in the sodium and potassium levels and we corrected them,” Gomathi Karmegam, associate professor, Emergency Medicine, RGGGH, said.
Soon after this, the team was able to revive the patient with an irregular heart rhythm — ventricular tachycardia, she said and added: “Using a defibrillator, we delivered shocks six times at intervals in between our CPR but it did not revert to normal sinus rhythm. However, he became conscious, responded by opening his eyes and showed us a thumbs up. That was the point when we knew we could not give up on him.”
Calls were made to the interventional cardiologists for emergency stenting. He was rushed to the Cardiac Care Unit at 10 a.m. where the cath lab was kept ready for him. Angioplasty and stenting was completed in 18 minutes after doctors found a complete block in one of the blood vessels.
N. Swaminathan, head of the department and director, Institute of Cardiology, Madras Medical College/RGGGH, said the patient was rushed to the cath lab which was nearly 400 to 500 metres away.
However, he suffered another arrest post-procedure and was revived. Pacing was done to stabilise heart rhythm after which he was shifted to the cardiac intensive care unit and was put on a ventilator and observed for 48 hours. He was weaned off ventilatory support on the third day.