Fighting for the life of a young man who suffered cardiac arrest while working out at the gym

Doctors at E Hospital activated the “red alert” procedure throughout the hospital, conducting consultations with many departments such as cardiology, emergency, intensive care… to save the life of a young man (20 years old, in Hanoi) who had a cardiac arrest while exercising at the gym.

The patient is recovering.

Continuous CPR saves young man's life

On July 29, the patient was exercising at the gym when he suddenly collapsed and lost consciousness. The gym staff performed CPR and called 115. After 15 minutes, the 115 emergency staff arrived at the scene and continued CPR and gave the victim 3 defibrillator shocks, and his heart started beating again.

The patient was immediately transferred to the Emergency Department, Hospital E at 2:50 p.m. on July 29.

Upon receiving a report from the 115 emergency team that a 20-year-old patient had suffered a cardiac arrest and needed emergency treatment, Hospital E immediately activated the “red alert” procedure for the entire hospital with the participation of many doctors from many specialties such as emergency, cardiology, intensive care… gathered at the Emergency Department, Hospital E to “wait” to provide emergency treatment for the patient.

The patient was admitted to the Emergency Department in a Glasgow coma of 5 points, with dilated pupils. The patient was intubated and given a ventilator, sedatives, anti-cerebral edema drugs, and transferred to the Internal Medicine Intensive Care and Anti-Poison Department.

Doctor Nguyen Thi Ly, Department of Internal Medicine Intensive Care and Anti-Poisoning, said that assessing this patient as seriously ill with a poor prognosis, the doctors continued to actively resuscitate the patient and prescribed hypothermia techniques.

During the procedure, the patient remained in a coma, on a ventilator, and was closely monitored according to the hypothermia treatment protocol. After 3 days of treatment, the patient's consciousness improved and he no longer needed to use vasopressors, could breathe on his own, and the endotracheal tube could be removed...

Witnessing the daily recovery of patients, the doctors and nurses of the Internal Medicine Intensive Care and Anti-Poison Department are very happy. This is a very meaningful reward for the medical staff who take care of patients every day.

Doctor Nguyen Thi Ly explained that because the patient was in a coma after cardiac arrest, the doctors chose the command hypothermia technique to save the patient's life.

This is a method that uses cooling techniques to control the patient's body temperature to a low level (from 32 degrees Celsius to 36 degrees Celsius depending on the specific case). Hypothermia helps reduce cell metabolism, reduce oxygen consumption, stabilize nerve cell membranes, limit brain edema, inhibit inflammatory reactions and reduce the production of free oxidants to protect the brain and organ tissues.

However, for the technique to be most effective, first aid for cardiac arrest at the scene of the incident is extremely important. Fortunately, this patient received emergency care early, the time of cardiac arrest before admission to the hospital was short, and cardiopulmonary resuscitation was performed immediately, so the patient recovered relatively well.

This patient received early emergency care, the time of cardiac arrest before admission was short and cardiopulmonary resuscitation was immediate, so the patient recovered relatively well.

It is recommended not to exercise too hard.

Dr. Vu Van Ba, Department of Adult Cardiology, Cardiovascular Center, E Hospital, is a cardiologist who participated in the consultation for this patient. After the consultation, the cardiologists thought of the possibility that the patient had a dangerous ventricular arrhythmia causing sudden cardiac arrest.

One of the dangerous arrhythmias that often causes cardiac arrest in young men is idiopathic ventricular fibrillation. This is an arrhythmia that occurs in patients with cardiac arrest without a clear cause of heart structure, coronary artery disease or metabolic disease after completing all tests and imaging diagnostics. Although it is called "idiopathic", in fact, medicine has identified a number of underlying mechanisms and factors involved.

Dr. Vu Van Ba added that some dangerous arrhythmias that do not have previous symptoms but are the cause of cardiac arrest include Brugada syndrome, long QT syndrome, early repolarization syndrome, or right ventricular cardiomyopathy... this is a group of diseases mainly related to genetic abnormalities, which can only be detected early through cardiovascular screening...

According to Dr. Ba, the next treatment direction after the patient has been resuscitated through the dangerous stage, the patient will continue to be examined for any abnormalities (cardiovascular, neurological, metabolic, etc.). It is expected that the patient will be implanted with an automatic defibrillator (ICD) to prevent sudden death for idiopathic ventricular fibrillation before being discharged from the hospital.

Doctors advise that sudden cardiac arrest can occur at any age and in any gender. Although physical activity is necessary, it depends on each age and health condition to apply appropriate exercise methods, should not exercise too hard.

Everyone needs to have a healthy lifestyle, avoid stress, and have a suitable diet. In particular, when there are signs of chest pain lasting more than 10-15 minutes, pain causing respiratory arrest... then you need to go immediately to the Cardiovascular Center, E Hospital for timely examination and treatment.

THIEN LAM

Source: https://nhandan.vn/gianh-giat-su-song-cho-nam-thanh-nien-tre-tuoi-bi-ngung-tim-khi-tap-gym-post898441.html