Fall 2011
Heart tO HEART
Your resource for heart health
Putting Heart Attacks on Ice Who Is Ice-Worthy? Certain Heart Patients Are Candidates for Hypothermic Therapy The American Heart Association has been recommending hypothermic therapy for cardiac arrest victims since 2005. However, hospitals across the nation have been slow to implement this life-saving procedure. Recently, St. Elizabeth Health System became the first hospital in the area to introduce the therapy. During a cardiac arrest, the heart stops effectively pumping blood through the body, bringing on a cascade of problems, including injury to the brain and other internal organs. Each year, roughly 300,000 American adults suffer cardiac arrest. continued on page 2
Cardiology Experts Reduce Coronary Damage by Chilling Patients
If you were to suffer cardiac arrest, how would you like doctors to treat the cocktail of problems that result—straight up (chilled) or neat (at room temperature)? If you choose straight up, then you stand a better chance of preserving your organs and body functions, and ultimately, your quality of life. In fact, this is exactly what the heart experts at St. Elizabeth Health Center are doing. They are cooling cardiac arrest patients using a revolutionary new treatment called hypothermic therapy. Basically, this involves dramatically lowering a patient’s body temperature in an effort to slow down the damaging effects of a heart attack. “In the past, cardiac arrest patients could only be stabilized and then monitored,” says Jeffrey Fulton, DO, director of cardiothoracic surgery. “The brain becomes deprived of oxygen when the heart stops pumping, and in these cases,
the outcome for patients is bleak. But now – thanks to hypothermic therapy -- we’re able to slow down or even stop damage to the heart and brain and literally bring patients back to life.” The cooling treatments are often initiated by paramedics at the scene of a cardiac – Jeffrey Fulton, DO arrest after the patient gets a pulse back. First, the medics stabilize the unconscious patient the best they can with advanced cardiac life support procedures. Then while transporting the patient to the hospital, they may apply ice packs to the areas of
“ Thanks to hypothermic therapy, we’re able to slow down or even stop damage to the heart and brain and literally bring patients back to life.”
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