The man was resuscitated for 20 minutes at home, spent 20 days in the intensive care unit, and another 20 days was “put on his feet” in the cardiology department of St. Luke’s Hospital of the First Medical Association of Lviv. Bohdan Petryga, a 44-year-old resident of Lviv, suffered an acute myocardial infarction. Doctors say: after such a sudden heart attack at a young age, most do not survive.
Bohdan was at home with his wife when he suddenly felt a pain in his heart and fainted. The wife immediately reacted, called an ambulance and, sensing the cessation of breathing, began to perform artificial respiration and indirect heart massage. Within minutes, an emergency team arrived and started defibrillation. Usually, the heart can be started quickly, but this time the struggle to restore the heartbeat lasted much longer. The patient was taken to the emergency department of St. Luke’s Hospital, where emergency medicine doctors, an anesthesiologist and a cardiologist were already waiting for him.
Doctors say: the man was in critical condition. In the department of interventional radiology, he underwent coronary angiography and stenting, since a heart attack is a rupture of an atherosclerotic plaque that prevents blood flow in an artery. When such a rupture occurs, plaques form thrombotic masses that block the coronary artery, and then the heart muscle begins to die. During stenting, a catheter with a stent that opens the artery was introduced through Bohdan’s arm, and blood supply to the heart was restored.
“The patient was intubated and connected to a ventilator. Although he regained consciousness on the seventh day, he was transferred to independent breathing only on the 16th day,” says the head of the department of anesthesiology and intensive care Olena Voytovych.
Under round-the-clock observation, doctors discharged the patient to stabilize all systems and functions of the body. On the 20th day, the patient was transferred to the cardiology department, where he was treated for another 20 days.
“He was transferred to our department in a stable condition. Rehabilitation specialists worked with him to help the patient walk, and speech therapists worked to develop speech. After all, the patient was on artificial lung ventilation for a long time, it was difficult for him to move, he did not get up at first, he did not speak well. The man led a nocturnal lifestyle. He worked as a taxi driver and often lacked sleep, smoked a lot. Probably, this way of life led to the development of an acute myocardial infarction at the age of 44,” says the head of the department of cardiology and reperfusion therapy Marjana Voytovych. And he adds: the fact that the man survived and, most likely, remained able to work, is a unique case.
Now Bohdan is feeling well, and after treatment at the rehabilitation center in Bryukhovychy, he has already gone home.
Doctors emphasize: a heart attack in young people often leads to sudden cardiac death. Therefore, they once again urge to undergo scheduled medical examinations, and especially, to consult a family doctor in case of a change in well-being.