Mumbai: The man who 'died' for 40 minutes lives to tell tale

Srinivas Vishwanath 51 had no heartbeat for 40 minutes Medically he was as good as gone With every passing minute that he did not return to life his wife Viji felt like her heart was about to stop too And yet the doctors refused to give up For 40 minutes they performed CPR nonstop until finally it was death that gave up its hold on Srinivas whose heart fluttered back to life miraculouslyIt was nothing less than a miracle for Viji Srinivas as she watched her husband come to life after flatlining for 40 minutes But what makes Srinivas even more of a medical marvel is that he regained consciousness the very next day and was safely discharged yesterday just a week after his neardeath experience There was no lasting damage to his brain or organs despite having no heart beat for close to an hourA lot of the credit goes to the doctors who refused to give up on the 51yearold patient Viji recalled I could see on the monitor that my husband had no pulse It was a straight line It felt like my heart had stopped too But thankfully the doctors didnt give up on him After 40 minutes of struggle when I saw the first heartbeat flash on the screen I couldnt stop my tearsWhat happenedSrinivas had no previous history of heart problems and despite his age was an avid yoga enthusiast It was while he was exercising at his Chembur home that he suffered his first heart attack on the night of November 15 He developed chest pain and broke into a sweat With the help of neighbours and sucurity guards his wife rushed him to Zen multispecialty hospital in an auto His ECG reported that he had had a heart attack due to complete heart block As soon as he entered the ICU he collapsed and went into cardiac arrestDr Ashish Soneji activated Code Blue an emergency protocol when a patient is in cardiopulmonary arrest requiring a code team to begin immediate resuscitative efforts CPR is an emergency procedure that combines chest compressions often with artificial ventilation in an effort to manually preserve intact brain function until further measures are taken to restore spontaneous blood circulation and breathing in a person who is in cardiac arrest This is done in combination with defibrillation which involves giving an electrical jolt to the heart in a bid to jumpstart itNormally cardiopulmonary resuscitation or CPR is administered for a maximum of 20 to 30 minutes When there is no heart beat beyond that there is a huge risk of brain death due to lack of oxygen supplyHis heart had stopped working there was with no pulse But we kept giving him CPR for blood circulation to keep the organs alive said Dr Narayan Gadkar intervention cardiologist at the hospital who led the CPR efforts The doctors decided to keep going even though he had flatlined because they noticed sudden spikes of about 10 to 12 bpm in his heart rate Gadkar added There was a time when we also lost hope and I came out to inform his family that the chances of his survival were low But we kept going with CPR and he finally responded after 40 minutes when the heart started beating againThe entire episode lasted an hour and 10 minutes from the first attack at home The doctors waited another 30 minutes until Srinivass condition stabilised His condition was complicated by the presence of head injury and gastrointestinal bleed Dr Roy Patankar and his team had quickly performed an endoscopy and sutured the scalp after ruling out brain hemorrhageFollowing this Dr Gadkar wheeled him into the operation theatre to implant a temporary pacemaker and perform lifesaving angioplastyThe doctor said Normally in such cases where patients revive after more than 30 minutes of no heart rate many either die or remain on ventilation But in this case the patient regained consciousness the next day and was discharged in a week which is actually a miracleRarest of rare casesDr N O Bansal professor and head of the Cardiology Department at Grant Medical College and Sir JJ Group of Hospitals said Generally we provide CPR for 20 to a maximum of 30 minutes In this case there might have been sudden spikes in the heartbeat so they continued for 40 minutes which is extremely rare There is also the risk of brain damage after such a long gap and the lack of oxygen flow can also cause brain death The fact that the patient recovered completely without any damage is rare indeed and the doctors efforts must be appreciatedCompression Put the person on his or her back on a firm surface kneel next to their shoulders Place the heel of one hand over the centre of the persons chest Place your other hand on top of the first hand Keep your elbows straight and position your shoulders directly above your handsUse your upper body weight not just your arms as you push straight down on compress the chest at least 2 inches but not more than 24 inches Push hard at a rate of 100 to 120 compressions a minuteIf you havent been trained in CPR continue chest compressions until there are signs of movement or until emergency medical personnel take over If you have been trained in CPR go on to the next stepAirway If youre trained in CPR and youve performed 30 chest compressions open the persons airway using the headtilt chinlift maneuver Put your palm on the persons forehead and gently tilt the head back Then with the other hand gently lift the chin forward to open the airwayBreathing Rescue breathing can be mouthtomouth breathing or mouthtonose breathing if the mouth is seriously injured or cant be openedWith the airway open using the headtilt chinlift maneuver pinch the nostrils shut for mouthtomouth breathing and cover the persons mouth with yours making a seal Prepare to give two rescue breaths Give the first rescue breath lasting one second and watch to see if the chest rises If it does rise give the second breath If the chest doesnt rise repeat the headtilt chinlift maneuver and then give the second breath Thirty chest compressions followed by two rescue breaths is considered one cycle Be careful not to provide too many breaths or to breathe with too much force Resume chest compressions to restore circulationShock As soon as an automated external defibrillator AED is available apply it and follow the instructions Administer one shock then resume CPR for two more minutes before administering a second shock If youre not trained to use an AED a 911 or other emergency medical operator may be able to guide you in its use If an AED isnt available continue CPR until there are signs of movement or emergency medical personnel take over20 No of mins CPR is provided usually40 No of mins CPR was provided to patient70 No of mins the cardiac episode lastedCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates