Hypothermia saves patient with cardiac arrest for one hour

On July 1, doctors at Bai Chay Hospital said they continuously performed CPR on the patient for nearly 50 minutes before he regained a heartbeat, and then transferred him to Quang Ninh General Hospital.

Doctors at the Intensive Care Unit at Quang Ninh General Hospital apply the technique of command hypothermia to control the patient’s body temperature. In addition, doctors combine other measures such as mechanical ventilation, vasopressor drugs, blood filtration, rehydration, electrolyte replacement… to adjust the disorders caused by circulatory arrest.

Dr. Nguyen Thi Dung, Department of Intensive Care – Artificial Kidney, said that the patient was young, had a history of good health, suddenly had cardiac arrest, lost consciousness and fell into a coma, with unknown cause. Doctors performed tests to rule out the risk of stroke, pulmonary embolism and acute myocardial infarction.

“Although the emergency treatment was successful, the patient’s condition is still very critical, with a high risk of sequelae and a low survival rate due to long-term brain damage,” the doctor said. Fortunately, after four days of treatment, the patient was conscious, the endotracheal tube was removed, and he was able to communicate normally, with almost no neurological sequelae.

Currently, patients being treated at the Department of Cardiology look for the cause to have a plan to prevent recurrence.

Studies around the world have shown that hypothermia reduces mortality by about 14%, reduces the rate of severe sequelae by 11%, and gives many people with brain damage after cardiac arrest and respiratory arrest (circulatory arrest) a chance to live a healthy life. Hypothermia must be performed within 6 hours for maximum effectiveness. If the patient is admitted to the emergency room after 6 hours, the effectiveness of the treatment will decrease.

Chest compressions to rescue people who are not breathing

Respiratory circulatory arrest is a state of sudden interruption of the heart’s pumping activity, preventing blood from circulating to other parts of the body. If not treated promptly, the patient will die quickly. In theory, the patient has no pulse and the heart does not beat again after 30-60 minutes of chest compression and oxygen support (CPR), which means emergency treatment is unsuccessful.

The ultimate goal of CPR is to maintain breathing and heart function, preventing brain damage to other parts of the body.

When falling into a state of circulatory arrest, the patient faces the risk of lack of blood carrying oxygen to the organs. This is also the cause of death or permanent brain damage within a few minutes. If detected early and treated quickly and properly, the victim can escape these dangers.