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Man survives 18 hours of cardiac arrest
April 6, 2018.
This man is incredibly lucky and has become a textbook case for the Montpellier doctors who follow him. Explanations.
A particular cardiac arrest
The story took place almost a month ago, on March 12, in Béziers and was told in the columns of the Free noon. A 53-year-old man was returning from his brother’s home, but his wife did not see him arriving and went looking for him. Found lifeless but without a trace of violence, the family thought of cardiac arrest.
The emergency services intervened and massaged the body for 4h30. The heart did not start again, why bother? But no, it was not over because the man’s temperature had dropped from 37 ° C to 22 ° C. And it is this major hypothermia which undoubtedly saved the Biterrois. After the men, the machines took over to massage him without interruption.
Saving hypothermia
” Doctors correctly ruled that maybe it was the hypothermia that was preventing the heart from restarting. It was therefore necessary first warm the victim before concluding that the massages have failed », Reports Doctor Jonathan Charbit, head of the intensive care unit at the CHU Lapyeronie in Montpellier. Indeed, after eighteen hours of massage, the heart left timidly then was able to beat normally without the aid of a machine.
“ The hypothermia had no doubt protected the brain and vital organs. There were chances that there were no after-effects. This is the great peculiarity of the file. If his body had been at room temperature, 37 degrees, the prognosis wouldn’t have been the same », Concludes the doctor Today, the man is recovering slowly and his case allows doctors to access new knowledge about the human being.
Maylis Choné
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