Reported By Heather Sorentrue
MOUNT DORA -- Your chances of surviving a heart attack just got a whole lot better if you live in Lake or Sumter counties.
From the moment you call 911 to the time you end up at the hospital, every minute is precious time for patients who go into cardiac arrest.
That's why Lake-Sumter EMS launched a new treatment to try save lives in those critical moments.
It's called induced hypothermia.
Lake-Sumter EMS's Medical Director Dr. P.R. Banerjee said it works specifically for patients who are unresponsive, but can get a pulse back.
“Ultimately you survive a cardiac arrest, you want to be able to function and live and enjoy your life with your family. So brain function is the most important thing after cardiac arrest. So what induced hypothermia does is give you the ability to carry on a normal life, which you would never have before,” Banerjee said.
Every ambulance with Lake-Sumter EMS now comes equipped with a cooler that houses chilled saline inside.
Up to two liters of the saline could be given to a patient in an effort to drop their body temperature by a single degree.
“By cooling the core body temperature, you end up decreasing the amount of toxins that are released from the fact that when you're heart stops beating blood flow to the brain stops,” Banerjee said. “When the blood flow to the brain stops, toxins build up. What cooling the body does is it kind of slows this whole thing down.”
This gives patients a fighting chance until they arrive at the hospital where the treatment continues and their body temperature is lowered to 33 degrees Celsius, while they're in an induced coma and then slowly brought back up.
“The fact is if we did nothing, there is a 90 chance you would be dead. If we do something, there is a 90 percent chance you could live if you're the right patient,” Banerjee said.
“That little extra step, no matter what it does, as long as it saves lives, that is what is important to us,” said Lt. Ryan Kessinger from Lake-Sumter EMS.
Across the country, around 1,000 people suffer heart attacks every day.
Only approximately 300 people get a pulse back, and of those, only about 30 are able to walk out of a hospital without neurological damage.
Dr. Banerjee said this treatment dramatically changes your odds.
Lake and Sumter counties join only a few counties in the state currently offering the induced hypothermia treatment.
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