TV
For nearly two hours, a young man's heart had stopped beating. However, a medical miracle at AIIMS in Bhubaneswar saved the life of 24-year-old Subhakant Sahu, the hospital authorities said on Monday.
Subhakant’s heart had ceased functioning due to what seemed like a blockage. His family had almost given up hope.
The youth, a resident of Nayagarh's Odapalla village, experienced an unexpected weakness on the night of September 30. Initially taken to a local medical centre in Ranpur by his family when they noted his decreasing heartbeat, doctors there referred him quickly to AIIMS-Bhubaneswar.
Also Read: Mango kernel tragedy: 1 more dies while undergoing treatment in SCBMCH
By the time Subhakant arrived at AIIMS, his heart had stopped functioning due to cardiogenic shock, and his blood pressure had plummeted significantly. Although doctors attempted to augment his blood pressure through medication, his heartbeat grew weaker.
Suddenly, Subhakant went into cardiac arrest. His heart had stopped completely, prompting the medical team to administer CPR. Even after 40 minutes of resuscitation attempts, his heart had not resumed beating. Before declaring him dead, the doctors accepted the challenge to revive him, employing an ECMO machine to attempt another round of CPR.
Remarkably, after around two hours, his heartbeat began to return slowly. With ECMO support and continued CPR, it became regular after 36 hours, and in four days, his heart started pumping again. However, by then, his lungs, kidneys, and liver had been adversely affected. It took nearly a month and a half to restore his health completely.
Doctors treating him noted this was the first such incident in Odisha. Subhakant is now in good health and is expected to be discharged from the hospital within a day or two.
Must Read: AIIMS Bhubaneswar transplants urinary sphincter in first-of-its-kind implantation in Odisha
“Doctors treating our son asked us to keep faith in the Almighty and on them as well. His heart gradually started beating,” the patient’s mother Minati Sahu said when contacted.
“We had two options before us, either to declare the patient ‘dead’ or to utilise the new technology (ECMO) available with us and conduct e-CPR. The youth’s heart gradually started beating nearly after two hours,” Srikant Behera, a doctor in the team stated.
