Cold Hearts: a case study of therapeutic hypothermia in helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS).
A 36-year-old white man hit a home run in the seventh inning of a community baseball game. The patient ran the bases successfully and returned to home plate. As he was bending over to pick up the bat, he suddenly collapsed. Bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) was immediately initiated, and defibrillation occurred within 5 minutes per the local emergency medical services (EMS) service. The automated external defibrillator (AED) shocked the patient a total of three times, and he was transported to a local hospital at the basic life support level. Helicopter emergency service (HEMS) was activated by local medical control, and LifeFlight of Maine responded to transfer this patient to a tertiary care center.
Department of Emergency Medicine, Albany Medical Center, Albany, NY, USA. tilneyp@mail.amc.edu
Peter
P
Tilney
Kevin
K
Kendall
D000328:Adult; D017732:Air Ambulances; D000401:Aircraft; D016887:Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation; D017147:Defibrillators, Implantable; D004554:Electric Countershock; D006323:Heart Arrest / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D007036:Hypothermia, Induced / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D016896:Treatment Outcome