Can bring people back to life even one hour after heart stops: Docs
TIMES NEWS NETWORK 21.03.2018
Chennai: Doctors at a city hospital say they can bring patients back to life, even an hour after their hearts stop, with the help of trained staff and the right equipment.
“A cardiac arrest is the same as death. The heart has to stop for doctors to declare death. But in many cases we have been able to reverse it before too much cell damage,” said Fortis Malar Hospital heart transplant surgeon Dr K R Balakrishnan.
The critical care team here has revived 13 of the 19 critically ill patients who suffered cardiac arrest in the hospital, he said. Some patient’s hearts picked up nearly 75 minutes after cardiac arrest, he said.
The hospital has added extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) to its routine cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) process. ECMO is a system in which blood from a person who has had a cardiac arrest is taken and circulated through a membrane oxygenator, which supplies oxygen and removes carbon dioxide. The oxygenated blood is put back into circulation.
“The machine is now part of our crash cart that’s dragged out when the patient has a cardiac arrest,” said head of critical care Dr Suresh Rao.
To make the process simple, the hospital has developed protocols where arteries near the groin are kept ready in high-risk patients. The doctors do the chest compressions and give the right drugs, but if they still don’t get the desired oxygen levels, they connect the patient to ECMO.
“We can do this in the ward, ICU or theatre. We work like men in F1 pit stops, where damaged tyres are changed within a few seconds. Each one has a job and does it in perfect sync with the others,” said Dr Balakrishnan.
If the patient needs support for a longer time, ECMO is connected directly to blood vessels of the heart. Starting an ECMO, however, can cost patients up to Rs 5 lakh.
“In some cases, insurance companies and governments have paid. We have also tried to crowdsource funds with the help of NGOs,” he said, adding that the hospital is working with NGOs such as Aishwariya Trust to fund surgeries for the needy.
TIMES NEWS NETWORK 21.03.2018
Chennai: Doctors at a city hospital say they can bring patients back to life, even an hour after their hearts stop, with the help of trained staff and the right equipment.
“A cardiac arrest is the same as death. The heart has to stop for doctors to declare death. But in many cases we have been able to reverse it before too much cell damage,” said Fortis Malar Hospital heart transplant surgeon Dr K R Balakrishnan.
The critical care team here has revived 13 of the 19 critically ill patients who suffered cardiac arrest in the hospital, he said. Some patient’s hearts picked up nearly 75 minutes after cardiac arrest, he said.
The hospital has added extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) to its routine cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) process. ECMO is a system in which blood from a person who has had a cardiac arrest is taken and circulated through a membrane oxygenator, which supplies oxygen and removes carbon dioxide. The oxygenated blood is put back into circulation.
“The machine is now part of our crash cart that’s dragged out when the patient has a cardiac arrest,” said head of critical care Dr Suresh Rao.
To make the process simple, the hospital has developed protocols where arteries near the groin are kept ready in high-risk patients. The doctors do the chest compressions and give the right drugs, but if they still don’t get the desired oxygen levels, they connect the patient to ECMO.
“We can do this in the ward, ICU or theatre. We work like men in F1 pit stops, where damaged tyres are changed within a few seconds. Each one has a job and does it in perfect sync with the others,” said Dr Balakrishnan.
If the patient needs support for a longer time, ECMO is connected directly to blood vessels of the heart. Starting an ECMO, however, can cost patients up to Rs 5 lakh.
“In some cases, insurance companies and governments have paid. We have also tried to crowdsource funds with the help of NGOs,” he said, adding that the hospital is working with NGOs such as Aishwariya Trust to fund surgeries for the needy.
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