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Fran Lu

A Chinese man has miraculously survived after his heart stopped beating for 40 hours, sparking an online discussion about the latest life-saving medical techniques.
The case came to light after emergency doctor Lu Xiao from the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine posted it on his social media account, which has three million followers.
Lu said the 40-year-old man had a cardiac arrest and no heartbeat could be found after several electric defibrillations.
The medical team performed extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) on the man and eventually saved his life despite his heart having stopped beating for nearly two days.

ECMO is a life-support machine that acts as an artificial heart and lung, adding oxygen to and removing carbon dioxide from the blood supply of people whose organs have failed.
The machine is often used to give temporary help for patients with heart attacks and people undergoing heart and lung transplants.
Previous reports have told of people being rescued hours after suffering a cardiac arrest thanks to the machine.
Last year, a 53-year-old woman in central China’s Hubei province was brought back to life five hours after her heart stopped beating.
In 2022, the Yancheng No 1 People’s Hospital, in eastern China’s Jiangsu province, announced that it had rescued a 36-year-old woman with the ECMO machine after her heart stopped beating for 96 hours.

According to the hospital, the machine can raise the survival rate of cardiac arrest patients from one per cent with conventional CPR to up to 50 per cent.
However, there are risks of prolonging the ECMO treatment.
In the 40-year-old man’s case, doctor Lu said they had to take measures to increase the pumping of blood to prevent clots which would be fatal.
Also, the medical team needs to strike a balance between blood clots forming and bleeding, a common and dangerous complication of ECMO.
This means constant monitoring is required and the medical staff must have excellent professional skills.
After the man’s heart beat recovered, he continued to live on the ECMO treatment for about 10 days.
Lu said he nearly recovered after 20 days, walked out of the hospital by himself and had no after effects, which can include stroke, kidney failure and mental issues such as anxiety and depression.

Lu described the outcome as a miracle.
“The patient is lucky. Each successful treatment is down to medical developments, staff persistence and luck.”
The case sparked a heated discussion on social media.
“The man is very lucky as he received treatment in time, otherwise even ECMO cannot save his life,” said one person.
Another said the man should also thank his family for paying for his treatment.
In China, it reportedly costs from around 50,000 yuan (US$7,000) to boot the machine, and over 10,000 yuan each day thereafter. The fee is normally not covered by social insurance.


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Chinese man in his 40s wakes up 40 hours after having no heartbeat following cardiac arrest

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Expert medical team uses latest life-saving technique to bring patient back to life; doctors describe outcome as a ‘miracle’

Expert medical team uses latest life-saving technique to bring patient back to life; doctors describe outcome as a ‘miracle’