Cardiac Arrest ‘cure’?
Published: September 4, 2003
COUGHING vigorously until an ambulance arrives could save the lives of heart patients who are going into cardiac arrest, a doctor said yesterday.
Polish researcher Dr Tadeusz Petelenz said the technique, called cough CPR, forced blood to the brain while the heart was starting to fail and kept patients conscious long enough to call for help.
It may also rectify their heart rhythm, he told a meeting of the European Society of Cardiology in Vienna. He recommended cough CPR be taught to the public.
But other experts said while the concept was provocative, it needed more study.
In 75 per cent of cases, a heart attack happens at home, often when the victim is alone. Circulation stops, the victim faints and brain damage occurs within minutes
Death usually follows in about 15 minutes.
“If victims could maintain consciousness until circulation is restored or help arrives their chances of survival would greatly increase,” Dr Petelenz said.
Doctors sometimes ask heart disease patients undergoing angiograms to cough rhythmically and forcefully to get their circulation going.
Dr Petelenz presented results from a study he conducted on 115 people who had previously fainted or come close to losing consciousness because of various heart problems.
They were taught how to recognise the symptoms — sudden dizziness and weakness, shortness of breath, sudden sweating and blurred vision — and then taught the proper coughing technique.
The patients used the cough in 365 instances where they thought they were about to faint.
The symptoms disappeared in 292 cases and medical attention was required in only 73 cases.
“All patients survived until the follow-up therapy, which included 45 pacemaker implantations, 55 heart surgeries and 15 (drug) interventions,” Dr Petelenz said.
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