Doctors managed to bring 79-year-old Yaroslav Borodiy from Lviv region back to life after clinical death. First, his granddaughter fought for his life, starting cardiopulmonary resuscitation even before the medics arrived, and then the patient was saved by the team at St Luke’s Hospital of the First Medical Association of Lviv.
The man was visiting his granddaughter Liliya. When he went out into the yard, he suddenly lost consciousness and fell. His granddaughter reacted instantly: she asked her brother to call an ambulance and began chest compressions. According to her, her grandfather turned blue, but during the compressions on his chest his skin gradually started to turn pink again.
The emergency medical team arrived in less than 10 minutes. A sudden cardiac arrest was recorded in Yaroslav Borodiy. Thanks to the fact that resuscitation was already under way, the medics were able to use a defibrillator to restore his heart activity and urgently transported the patient to St Luke’s Hospital.
In hospital, doctors diagnosed an acute myocardial infarction. Examination showed that the lumens of the circumflex and right coronary arteries were narrowed by 99%. These are two of the three main vessels that supply blood to the heart, so the patient’s condition was assessed as critical and required immediate restoration of blood flow.
Cardiologists performed minimally invasive stenting of both affected vessels. Through a small puncture in an artery in the arm, they guided metal stents into the coronary arteries, expanded them at the sites of critical narrowing and restored normal blood circulation in the heart.
During the endovascular intervention, the patient suddenly developed ventricular fibrillation — a dangerous heart rhythm disorder in which the heart stops pumping blood effectively. The team of anaesthetists and cardiologists promptly carried out defibrillation, restored the rhythm and stabilised the man’s condition. In this way, Yaroslav Borodiy was effectively saved for the second time.
“This story is about how important every minute is. About people who did not lose their heads and started resuscitation even before the ambulance arrived. About the well-coordinated work of the emergency medical team, resuscitation specialists, cardiologists, interventional cardiologists and the entire medical team. Sometimes there are only a few minutes between life and death. And it is professionalism, speed of decision-making and teamwork that give a person another chance. This time that chance was seized. The heart is beating again. Life goes on,” said Olha Kit, cardiologist at St Luke’s Hospital.
Mr Yaroslav is now back home. His family thank the medics of the First Medical Association of Lviv for saving their father, grandfather and great-grandfather, while the doctors, in turn, highlight the decisive actions of Liliya, who without delay began chest compressions and thus gave him a chance of successful treatment.
At the First Medical Association of Lviv, which includes St Luke’s Hospital, a full range of modern medical care is provided — from diagnostics and treatment to complex surgical interventions, rehabilitation and prosthetics, including for patients in an extremely serious condition.