One woman in the United States has surpassed the saying that cats have nine lives by returning from the dead 10 times.
The 63-year-old retired educator has hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), a condition of the heart muscle that affects one in 500 Americans and Britons.
When doctors diagnosed her in 2003, they implanted a cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) — a device that restarts the heart if it stops beating — in her chest.
Rarely are they utilized more than once in a patient’s lifetime?
However, the unnamed woman from Duluth, Minnesota, was rescued ten times over the course of 19 years.
In one instance, her heart stopped beating for 18 seconds.
Doctors at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts, stated that her case demonstrates the “power and longevity” of life-saving technologies.
In May of last year, Christian Eriksen was installed with an ICD after collapsing during a European Championship match against Finland when his heart stopped pumping for five minutes.
HCM causes the heart muscle to become overly thick and rigid, making it more difficult for the heart to pump blood throughout the body.
It is caused by genetic alterations and is transmitted across family members.
A kind of an individual with HCM has a 50% probability of inheriting the disease.
The primary symptoms of this condition include shortness of breath, chest discomfort, palpitations, and dizziness.
The majority of patients have few or no symptoms and lead regular lives.
A tiny group, however, is at risk for developing life-threatening arrhythmia — an irregular heartbeat that can cause the heart to stop suddenly — and is therefore at risk of death.
Stress, exercise, caffeine, or other substances may act as a stimulant.
HCM was formerly the leading cause of sudden death, however, the introduction of ICDs has drastically reduced the incidence.
Doctors highlighted the instance in The American Journal of Cardiology as an “extreme illustration” of the potency of the matchbox-sized devices.
In July 2003, at the age of 44, physicians at Tufts Medical Center, led by cardiologist Dr. Barry Maron, diagnosed the patient with HCM.
After the disease was identified in her son, she was referred for a scan that indicated that portions of her heart were twice as thick as normal.
Despite the early detection of her HCM, she was at risk of a rapid demise, as her two brothers had died from the ailment at ages 20 and 34.
In August 2003, she received an ICD implant.
It is surgically implanted beneath the skin, typically just below the collarbone.
The ICD is connected through thin wires to the heart, where it continuously monitors the heart rate and rhythm.
If an ICD detects a potentially harmful heart rhythm, it sends a rapid series of low-voltage electrical impulses to rectify the rhythm.
In extreme circumstances, it functions as a defibrillator, delivering massive electric shocks to restart the heart’s pumping.
Ten times in the 19 years that followed, the female patient experienced life-threatening ventricular fibrillation and an abnormal heartbeat.
The first incidence occurred only 17 months after the device was implanted.
Five times, the woman fell asleep. It is unknown whether she noticed, although the majority of patients do not.
Amid the events, she lost consciousness.
During her ninth near-death experience, which occurred at 4:00 a.m., her heart stopped beating for 18 seconds, which was believed to be the longest time.
The device sent a shock to her heart, restoring its regular rhythm. To prevent death, the heartbeat must be recovered within three minutes.
Despite her near-death experiences, the woman displays no other HCM symptoms.
The doctors said, “This unique case presentation demonstrates the effectiveness and longevity of the ICD in preserving life in HCM patients.”
Indeed, the ICD in our patients has shown steady dependability for nearly two decades.
They claimed that the instance is “especially impressive” because the gadget never shocked her incorrectly or created other issues.
And just one-third of HCM patients require ICD replacement more than once in their lives. Even Nevertheless, the majority of individuals have between one and three near-death experiences.
‘Therefore, to experience ten independent device interventions is exceptional and perhaps unprecedented in HCM practice,’ the medical professionals explained.
They advocated for the widespread use of ICDs even among persons with a single risk factor for acquiring the illness, such as a family history of it.
