67-year-old NRI survives mid-air med emergency

Kolkata: A 67-year-old NRI, a resident of California for the last 37 years, suffered a near-fatal heart attack aboard an Air India flight from San Francisco to New Delhi on Aug 23. He was rushed to a Kolkata private hospital after the aircraft was diverted and made an emergency landing at the Kolkata airport. The patient underwent a life-saving cardiac procedure under the supervision of a team of doctors who managed to revive him. The man was discharged from Charnock Hospital, where he was admitted, after two days and recovered sufficiently to travel back.After around 14 hours on the flight, while walking from the washroom towards his seat, he suddenly collapsed. Two doctors travelling on the flight administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and revived him. However, since he remained semi-conscious, the doctors on the flight said he needed immediate hospitalisation to survive. The flight was diverted and landed in Kolkata. Since the Pakistani airspace is shut for flights to India, international flights from several destinations in Europe and the USA now make a detour through South India on their way to Delhi and often land at the Kolkata airport to refuel.The patient was immediately rushed to the emergency department of Charnock Hospital in Teghoria and was admitted under a cardiac team. Initial ECG and echocardiography showed that cardiac enzymes in the blood were slightly high. The patient was taken for an urgent coronary angiography, which showed critical narrowing of the left main artery of the heart. A coronary angiography was performed by Tapobrata De, chief of cardiology at Charnock, which revealed that "the left main ostium of this patient, which is the starting point of the entire blood flow to the left side of the heart, had critical narrowing". Such cases often present with blackout rather than chest pain, as sudden occlusion of blood flow to a major portion of the heart can lead to ventricular arrhythmia (a lethal and often fatal rhythm disturbance of the heart) and often results in sudden collapse and sudden cardiac death," said De.He added that with the help of the latest coronary imaging technique of intravascular ultrasound (IVUS), the critical blockage in the origin of the left main artery of the heart was clearly revealed, which could be difficult to demonstrate clearly in a routine coronary angiography. The patient underwent stenting of the critical blockage of left main artery. Another 90% blockage of his right coronary artery was also stented. "The patient was relieved of all symptoms and discharged uneventfully within the next 48 hours," said De.The case highlights how timely CPR can save the life of a person during cardiac arrest, pointed out doctors. "Many such patients with a critical blockage in the left main artery succumb to sudden cardiac death. In this case, it was a possibility since the heart attack happened mid-air, and without the right CPR, he may not have survived," said De.