Doctors in AIIMS Bhubaneshwar saved the life of a 24-year-old army man – reviving his heart after it stopped for almost one-and-a-half hours through the advanced Extracorporeal Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation (eCPR) procedure. According to doctors, the young patient was brought in a critical condition due to heart failure last month. However, shortly after his arrival, he suffered a cardiac arrest.
And despite 40 minutes of conventional CPR, no cardiac activity was detected, presenting a critical decision - to declare him dead or attempt the cutting-edge eCPR procedure. It was then the decision to conduct the cutting-edge Extracorporeal Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation - an advanced medical procedure that combines traditional CPR with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation technology was taken and the patient was revived. Doctors said following the 40-minute procedure, the patient's heart resumed beating, albeit irregularly.
However, in the next two days, his heart function improved significantly, and he was successfully weaned off ECMO as well. The team also managed several other life-threatening complications that he faced due to a lack of blood flow to his heart and brain. "eCPR, while technically challenging, represents a promising advancement in the treatment of cardiac arrests traditionally deemed fatal.
This success marks a milestone in Odisha's medical history," Dr. Srikant Behera, Intensivist and Adult ECMO specialist, told Times of India. What is eCPR? Defined as a life-.
