Cardiac arrest? An IV to the leg could save you
SINGAPORE: From August, paramedics from the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) will adopt a new method to help those suffering from cardiac arrest: An intravenous (IV) drip to the leg.
The SCDF said on Friday (July 25) that the new method involves using a medical drill to open a pathway to the bone marrow in the leg. A catheter is then inserted so that the IV drip can be delivered straight into the blood stream.
With this method, the success rate of the delivery of adrenaline to the blood stream within the first minute can be boosted to more than 90 per cent, compared to the 50 per cent using the traditional blood vessel method, said Dr Kenneth Tan, Associate Consultant at the Singapore General Hospital’s (SGH) Department of Emergency Medicine.
Also, the current method, which requires searching for the right blood vessel to insert the needle, may be hindered by flattened veins. Narrowed or blocked blood vessels of obese patients, or those with kidney failure, may also impede the delivery of the drug, Dr Tan said.
Half of SCDF’s paramedic fleet will adopt the procedure from August, should they fail to locate a vein for traditional IV delivery. The other half will do so after six months, SCDF said. It added that its paramedics have received training on the method since September 2013.
Doctors at the Department of Emergency Medicine at Singapore General Hospital are working with the SCDF on this initiative. There are about 1,800 cases of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in Singapore each year.
The method has been used primarily in a hospital setting, but this is the first time the procedure is being used in the field, the SCDF added. Paramedics in countries such as Australia have also adopted the bone marrow procedure as their first approach to treating cardiac arrest patients in the field to great success, SGH said.
While the bone marrow method is more expensive than the existing procedure, the SCDF said it will not pass on the additional cost to patients.
Source: Channel News Asia
