The patient is Mr. N.P.M (48 years old, Cai Rang district, Can Tho city). 2 hours before being admitted to the hospital, the patient felt tired, suddenly had severe pain in the left chest, sweating, and difficulty breathing, so his family took him to the emergency room at Hoan My Cuu Long Hospital.
The family said the patient had a history of regular smoking, about 2 packs of cigarettes per day.
At the Emergency Department, the patient had severe chest pain, then ventricular fibrillation and cardiac arrest. The medical team immediately performed emergency electric shock, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and activated the Code STEMI procedure (emergency procedure for acute myocardial infarction), ensuring the international "golden hour standards" in emergency treatment for acute myocardial infarction.
After the heart beats again, the patient is taken to the cardiovascular intervention room to re-open the blocked coronary artery.
The results of coronary angiography using a two-plane digital subtraction angiography (DSA) system showed that the patient had acute anterior interventricular branch occlusion, 90% circumflex stenosis, and very poor cardiac contractility with 2 high-dose vasopressors. The medical team performed cardiac resuscitation, placed a temporary emergency pacemaker, recanalized the coronary artery, and placed a stent in the blocked artery.
According to records, after 44 hours of Code activation, the patient was given emergency treatment and the blocked blood vessel was completely recanalized and then transferred to the Intensive Care and Poison Control Department (ICU) for treatment.
After about 24 hours of active monitoring, the patient was awake, responsive, followed medical orders well, stopped taking cardiac medication and was transferred to the inpatient unit for monitoring. Currently, the patient's health is stable and he has been discharged from the hospital for outpatient monitoring after 5 days of treatment.
Specialist Doctor II Nguyen Huu Thai - Head of the Department of Cardiology - Endovascular Intervention, Hoan My Cuu Long Hospital - said that myocardial infarction is a condition of acute myocardial ischemia causing angina, followed by myocardial necrosis leading to heart failure or sudden death. Emergency and intervention during the "golden time" are vital for the patient.
Dr. Thai recommends that people with high cardiovascular risk factors such as high blood pressure, diabetes, dyslipidemia, overweight, sedentary, smoking, work pressure, stress, etc. need to have regular health check-ups to screen, detect early and promptly treat cardiovascular diseases as well as other diseases.
When a patient has any signs of suspected myocardial infarction such as chest pain, shortness of breath, chest discomfort, even the smallest pain, they should not be subjective and should immediately go to the nearest specialized cardiovascular center for timely diagnosis and treatment.
