37 year old woman resuscitated after long-term cardiac arrest without neurological damage.
Still today, it is generally believed that within minutes of a heart attack, the brain and other organs are severely damaged. The damage is so severe that with previous therapies successful resuscitation of the patient is very unlikely after a very short time span. Long-term research has shown that the assumed limits can be significantly shifted by a novel set of therapies.
The result is CARL – a new therapeutic approach based mainly on extracorporeal circulation. It is used to draw the patient’s blood from the body, process it and then return it to the patient.
During a CARL Therapy – and this is new – numerous values are measured that provide information about the patient’s condition, so that the composition and temperature of the blood can be adjusted to the patient’s individual needs. This is done by adding certain substances, by a precisely dosed supply of oxygen, and by immediately cooling the entire body to about 34 °C. The corresponding blood values are monitored continuously – and, if necessary, adjusted so that the organism can recover optimally from the consequences of the deficient blood supply (ischemia).
In this way, it was not only possible to resuscitate a relatively young woman and mother in cardiovascular arrest after a time span beyond all positive forecasts. CARL also managed what was previously considered a medical exception: She survived this life-threatening situation without brain damage and and regained her former entire quality of life.
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