Pune: A 50-year-old man who suffered a cardiac arrest was revived at Sassoon General Hospital after nearly an hour of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and multiple defibrillator shocks in the casualty department, officials said on Tuesday.
The patient, who had no known comorbidities, was brought to the hospital with symptoms of a myocardial infarction but collapsed shortly after entering the casualty department. He developed ventricular fibrillation, a life-threatening heart rhythm that can lead to sudden cardiac death.
The hospital’s Code Blue team was activated, with doctors from the general medicine and emergency medicine departments, along with nursing staff, working together to revive him.
Speaking to The Free Press Journal, Dr Dhananjay Ogale, Code Blue coordinator at Sassoon General Hospital, said, “The patient received around one hour of CPR and multiple defibrillator shocks before his heartbeat was restored.”
“The case was complicated by repeated, resistant ventricular arrhythmias. The patient’s heart rhythm changed between ventricular fibrillation, ventricular tachycardia and asystole before returning to a normal sinus rhythm. Three to four defibrillator shocks were administered,” Dr Ogale said.
The patient was placed on ventilatory support in the intensive care unit and underwent thrombolysis. He regained consciousness after a couple of days and was subsequently taken off the ventilator. Cardiologists later performed angiography and angioplasty, following which he was discharged.
Dr Ogale said the Code Blue team had a success rate of around 40-45% across the cases it handled. Over the past two years, the team responded to approximately 4,081 emergency calls from the casualty department and various medical and surgical wards, temporarily restoring breathing and blood circulation in 2,067 patients pending definitive treatment.
Dr Somnath Salgar, Head of the Department of Biochemistry at BJGMC and Sassoon General Hospital, told The Free Press Journal, “Timely diagnosis and prompt coordination between emergency teams are crucial in managing life-threatening cardiac conditions. Early recognition of a heart attack can make a significant difference to patient outcomes.”
