alt Hacker NewsI was rewatching The Abyss for the first time since 1989 and wondered just what is the process for reviving an asystole heart[^1].
[^1]: It was only relatively recently that I learned you can't shock an asystole heart. e.g. https://medicalsciences.stackexchange.com/questions/5874/can...
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gcanyon • today at 1:07 PM
Ed Harris acted the crap out of that scene. And the whole dynamic between him and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio in that film was awesome. I wish James Cameron was bringing that same level of characterization to Avatar :-/
CPR and a boatload of epinephrine, it seems.
That passage bears quoting at length, it's where I really teared up:
> At initiation of ECMO, the boy's rhythm was asystole. The boy was rewarmed with an ECMO heat exchanger-patient gradient ≤10 °C. [...] As the patient's temperature approached 22 °C (72 °F), low-frequency and low-amplitude sinusoidal electrical deflections were noted on his electrocardiogram. As the patient continued to rewarm, these phasic electrical deflections slowly increased in frequency and amplitude. At approximately 28 °C (82 °F), sinusoidal deflections organized into more classic cardiac electrical activity reminiscent of sinus bradycardia with a wide complex. Amiodarone, calcium gluconate, magnesium sulfate, bolus epinephrine, and epinephrine and norepinephrine infusions were administered. After further rewarming, sinus bradycardia developed and ultimately progressed to normal sinus rhythm...