An event that happened recently that shook my country’s collective conscience .It was, loss of hugely popular and beloved President of India , Dr Abdul Kalam on 27-07-2015. He was 84.Death came in a most dramatic way when he fell down midway during his lecture to students of Indian institute of management ,Shillong in the state of Megalaya.
Indian President Kalam addressing the students snapped moments before he dropped down dead due to cardiac arrest
What is the implication of this VVIP’s death for cardiac Academic ?
I believe , there is lot .The presumed cause of death was cardiac arrest . As we know , it must have been an instant electrical death as the local medical personnel couldn’t revive him after an Initial CPR and later shifting him to state of the art facility . The ex-president was known to have a good health record and the heart should have been normal until prior to the cardiac arrest.
Now coming to the key question what is the chances of survival of cardiac arrest ?
While there have been many survivors of cardiac arrest within hospital premises and coronary care units . . . still , life cannot be guaranteed even if prompt CPR is initiated .
It’s the height of Heisenberg irony, some lives can be saved even when cardiac arrest happens out of hospital , while it’s also a fact deaths due to cardiac arrest happen right inside the cath lab where all emergency strategies are in place .
How much delay is permissible in resuscitating cardiac arrest ?
Cardiac arrest is nothing but activation of the switch of death . Evey second is important . Experience suggest if reversed within first 2 minutes maximum survival is expected .Beyond 5 minutes and within 10-15 minutes most deaths will ensue.Up to 20 minutes survival is possible though with a risk of brain permanent brain damage.
A recent study from Sweden which addressed this issueand confirmed a dismal fact that even in the presence of best emergency care system, survival is meager 4 -8% . However , the positive outcome was , If the bystander does some form of CPR till the arrival of emergency service reaches the spot it can go up to 10.5 %.
It is very clear , surviving an unexpected cardiac arrest is in the domain of God , still we must encourage lay persons to know and learn the techniques of CPR. The protocols has been simplified now , to include chest compression alone as the Initial measure.
Coming back to the question of death of our president, as some one asked me direct question if the death could have been prevented ? , I said , yes if God willing !
Post-ample
Note : Cardiac arrest in patients who are at high risk with underlying heart disease (structural or genetic ) will require implantable cardiovertor defibrillator ( ICD ) that can save thousands of life every day across the globe .
Dr.S.Venkatesan MD 
Leave a Reply