Media Report

Heart attack victims gone for over 40 minutes
Hobart Mercury, Hobart
13 May 2013, by Christian Dougherty
General News, page 2 - 301.06 cm²
Capital City Daily - circulation 40,638 (MTWTFS-)
Copyright Agency Ltd (CAL)
licensed copy
ID 193774289 PAGE 1 of 2
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Heart attack victims gone for over 40 minutes
Patients
back
from
thedead
could ever say,’’ he said.
CHRISTIANDOUGHERTY
andLUCIEVANDENBERG
A VICTORIAN man who was
clinically dead for more than
half an hour has been brought
back to life by an Australianfirst
resuscitation technique.
Dandenong’s Colin Fiedler,
39, is one of three cardiac
arrest patients brought back to
life at The Alfred Hospital after
being dead for 40 to 60 minutes.
He was saved using two new
techniques being trialled at the
hospital – a mechanical CPR
machine that performs constant
chest compressions, and
a portable heart-lung machine
that keeps oxygen and blood
flowing to vital organs.
Mr Fiedler had a heart
attack and was clinically dead
for 40 minutes before being
revived last June.
‘‘I’m so grateful, more than I
could ever say,’’ he said.
So far seven cardiac arrest
So far seven cardiac arrest
patients have been treated
with the AutoPulse machine
and Extracorporeal Membrane
Oxygenation.
The new approach allows
doctors to diagnose the cause
of a cardiac arrest and treat it
while keeping blood and oxygen
flowing to vital organs to
reduce the risk of permanent
disability.
Mr Fiedler returned home
without disability.
In the ambulance he was
given the choice of two hospitals,
he said.
‘‘For some reason I said The
Alfred, which is pretty lucky
because they are the only one
that has it.’’
Since his heart attack he has
turned over a new leaf,
quitting smoking and no
longer sweating over small
things.
things.
At present the revival system
is only available at The
Alfred. But senior intensive
care physician Professor Stephen
Bernard said the results
from the first two years of the
trial were exciting and he
hoped eventually to expand it
across Melbourne.
Prof Bernard said it required
three trained intensive care
physicians and all the machinery
ready to go on-site, which
no other hospital in Victoria
currently had.
AutoPulse is only available
in three ambulances, but he
said the company that distributed
the CPR machine had
offered to provide more.
‘‘We are looking to where to
best implement these
machines,’’ he said.