A 71-year-old man was miraculously saved by doctors at Duc Giang General Hospital after cardiac arrest on the way to the hospital due to acute myocardial infarction.
According to family members, the patient has a history of smoking for many years. About an hour before being admitted to the hospital, he suddenly experienced severe chest pain accompanied by shortness of breath, exhaustion and cold sweats. Recognizing unusual signs, the family immediately called emergency 115 to take the patient to the hospital.
However, when the ambulance was moving, the patient suddenly had cardiac arrest. In a critical situation, medical staff on the ambulance urgently performed cardiac tamponade and cardiopulmonary resuscitation to maintain the patient's life.
When transferred to the Emergency Department, Duc Giang General Hospital, the patient was still in a very critical condition. Immediately, the red alert system was activated. Doctors from many specialties coordinated to synchronously implement emergency resuscitation measures to regain the patient's life.
In addition to intensive resuscitation measures, doctors decided to apply extracorporeal circulatory support (ECMO) - a specialized method that helps temporarily replace heart and lung function, maintaining blood and oxygen flow to important organs while finding the cause of cardiac arrest.
After the circulatory condition was temporarily controlled, the patient was immediately transferred to the cardiology intervention room. The angiography results showed that a branch of the coronary artery was seriously blocked due to a thrombus. The intervention team quickly reconnected the blood vessels, successfully placed a stent, and restored the blood flow to nourish the heart.
Thanks to the smooth coordination between specialties and mastering modern resuscitation and cardiovascular intervention techniques, a miracle happened. After only 5 days of intensive treatment, the patient was able to quit ECMO, breathed again on his own and especially did not leave neurological sequelae.
Dr. Do Anh Son, the doctor directly involved in the treatment, said that this is one of the very severe out-of-hospital circulatory arrest cases but was successfully saved thanks to timely emergency care, close coordination between specialties and the effective application of specialized resuscitation techniques.
Through this case, doctors recommend that tobacco is one of the leading risk factors leading to cardiovascular diseases, especially myocardial infarction. People should not be subjective when symptoms such as chest pain, chest tightness, shortness of breath, cold sweating or abnormal fatigue appear.
