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Al-Ahli hospital saves the life of a Qatari whose heart suddenly stopped

By Dr. Abdurrazzak Gehani, Consultant Cardiologist and Head of the Cardiac Center at Al-Ahli Hospital - Doha / Qatar

Dr. Abdul Razaq Gehani, Consultant Cardiologist and Head of the Cardiac Center at Al-Ahli hospital, revealed that the hospital installed an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) for a Qatari teenager under the skin and delivered wires to the heart chambers, adding that the device can constantly monitor and record heart rhythm and provide rapid intervention to give electric shocks to treat severe acceleration leading to cardiac interruption.

According to Gehani, in such cases, heart muscle weakness is a major cause of severe and sudden acceleration of the heart rhythm, rendering the heart’s pumping of blood ineffective and leading to what is known as sudden cardiac arrest or sudden heart arrest.

Survival from death

The consultant cardiologist reviewed the patient’s pathological history. The patient was saved from certain death due to a complete cardiac arrest at home by a special electric shocks device, which Al-Ahli hospital successfully installed nearly a year ago.

He added that the Qatari teenager began his therapeutic journey several years ago after suffering from an acute coronary clot and had coronary stents that saved him from an acute coronary clot. However, unfortunately the heart muscle was affected by the clot’s inflation, causing him to suffer from severe heart muscle weakness. That’s why I advised him to install an electric shocks device, and to regulate his heart rhythm according to numerous studies because he became at risk of sudden cardiac arrest. But unfortunately, he refused to install the device at the time and wanted time to think, but this took several years.

Gehani continued: “Last year, he came to my clinic at Al-Ahli hospital and asked to install the device that he had rejected before. In fact, the device was successfully installed and during the installation process, all the factors related to the electrocardiogram and the wires that were successfully installed were tested. Then he continued coming to the clinic periodically, to follow up and monitor the device on his computer and things were going well, and during all the follow-ups there was no imbalance in the beats.”

He lists the development of the patient after the installation of the device, reporting, “On December 27, his heart suddenly stopped completely and he fell unconscious with grief and great distress among his parents. But the device directly recognized the severe confusion in the heart rhythm that evolved into a complete stop of heart function and then the device gave him the appropriate electric shock according to the program we put in place for him to deal with such a condition. After only one trauma, his heart rhythm became normal, and he rose from his coma, wondering what had happened to him, in the midst of his family’s daze”.

Gehani asserted that “Without Bounty of Allah first, then the existence of the device and its response at that time, the patient would not be with us today.” Explaining that the device installed deals with cases of slow heart rhythm such as conventional devices, as well as dealing with cases of stopping the acceleration of beats and returning them to their normal level even if they reached the cardiac arrest stage thanks to electric shocks to the heart chambers where the device performs this function through complex programs placed in it, where it can determine the speed of heart rhythm if it is rapid or medium and in the case of abnormal beats, it directs self-electric and automatic shocks, and if any slowdown occurs in the heart rhythm, the device gives additional pulses to make the number of beats return to a normal rate.

Dr. Gehani, concluded talking about the device, by saying that the technique of these devices has evolved considerably in recent years. It has also become possible to install the device under local anaesthesia without the need for general anaesthesia or surgery except in some cases, explaining that after the operation, the patient stayed in the hospital for a short period of time before being released to resume his normal activities.

He emphasized that the device had been tested several times after installation to ensure that it was functioning properly. The patient was allowed to go to Umrah whenever he wanted as long as he brought a special identification card in case he needed to visit a hospital for any reason, and he was also allowed to pass through airports without being exposed to electronic detectors that might interfere with the device.

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