New Procedure Saves Man Who Had No Pulse for 40 Minutes

Richard Zahler, a 67-year-old Florida man, had just finished a marathon when he collapsed suffering a heart attack. With no defibrilator present, he lay with no pulse for over 40 minutes until doctors were able to get him to a hospital and revive him using an incredible new procedure. Forty minutes is a remarkable time to last without a pulse and it is surprising that Zahler even woke up. What is even more surprising is that he had no brain damage, only forgetting coming to Arkansas and the race itself. Most patients who even survive over fifteen minutes without a pulse end up with irreversible damage to the brain. This can result in a wide range of problems from lack of motor control to mental retardation. When the most important organ in the body, the brain, does not receive its necessary blood supply and the oxygen that comes with it, dangerous enzymes and chemicals are released which cause great damage to the brain tissue. Restoring blood flow after a period of time can only worsen the problem by allowing free radicals to only increase cell necrosis. It has been shown that cell necrosis can become irreversible after only four minutes. If all of this information is true, then how did Zahler last 40 minutes with only a slight memory loss?

The answer is Therapeutic Hypothermia. When we think of hypothermia, we think of people stuck in arctic temperatures with frostbite and the danger of freezing to death. This new treatment is much less extreme than our common view of hypothermia. In Zahler's case, doctors used cooling blankets that were hooked up to a machine that ran cold water in and out to keep him at a steady temperature. This was combined with CPR/ compressions that kept blood flowing to his brain. During the procedure Zahler's Forty five minutes after collapsing with no pulse, Zahler awoke much to the doctors surprise and excitement that the procedure worked. The reason this new procedure interests me is that it revolutionizes the process of reviving patients who have lost bloodflow to the important organs of their body. Even more importantly the treatment appears to negate the usual consequences that arise with a prolonged loss of bloodflow to these organ systems. As this treatment continues to advance, we may see more cases like Zahler with similar results. Hopefully, more and more patients who suffer cardiac arrest or a stroke will be able to benefit from this advancement in the medical field.

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