Retiree back to life after cardiac arrest
Our drive is to save lives and give patients suffering a cardiac arrest the chance to survive neurologically intact – anywhere in the world, in- and out-of-hospital. Our system joins the rescue chain and is being applied when, despite of all efforts, the heart cannot be restarted with the current treatment methods.
Peter Kunzelmann was lying unconscious on the kitchen floor of his house in the countryside when he was found by his wife. Aware of the seriousness of the situation, she immediately called the emergency services. Two first responders reached the scene after just three minutes and immediately started life-sustaining measures. The young people had been alerted by the control center via a first-aid app. The rescue service reached shorty after and initiated professional resuscitation measures. The latter transferred Peter K. directly to the University of Freiburg – Medical Center. Since all previous efforts untaken failed to restart his heart, Peter K. was connected to an extracorporeal circulation called CARL at the hospital. With CARL more time was gained to treat the severe cardiac arrest that the 68-year-old had suffered at his home.
Thereafter Peter K. was in coma for seven weeks at the ICU and could be discharged only after a hospital stay of several months and eight weeks in rehab. To date, he has not suffered any neurological damage to the brain and there are no significant motor impairments. On the contrary, the retiree can drive his car again, is mobile and is particularly happy that he can pursue his great passion again: To take part in the olive harvest in Sicily as a guest worker in fall.
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