Medical textbooks say that clinical death is determined by the interval of time that the cerebral cortex can survive without blood circulation and respiration. According to doctors' estimates, it is no more than 5-7 minutes. Perm doctors brought a girl back to life, whose clinical death lasted, as officially recorded, more than 8.5 minutes.
In May, a call was received at the control desk of the duty service 03 of one of the cities in the north of the Kama region. The callers explained that the girl who had come to visit them “fell and was not breathing”.
The ambulance doctors established clinical death in the patient. The circumstances remained unclear - the doctors subsequently did not find any signs of injury or poisoning. The ambulance brigade conducted resuscitation measures for 23-year-old Maria Solovieva (name and surname have been changed) and delivered to the city hospital. The work of the heart was restored, but the patient did not regain consciousness and fell into a deep coma.
She spent several weeks in an intensive care unit, connected to a ventilator, and a feeding tube. But there was no improvement in the patient's condition, so the chief angioneurologist of the Ministry of Health of the Perm Territory Roman Engaus decided to transport the patient to the Perm medical unit No. 11 for treatment and rehabilitation. For all the complexity of the picture, "the case is not hopeless," he said. To transport Maria to Perm (distance more than 200 km), they used an ambulance helicopter.
The patient was admitted to the intensive care unit of the hospital in early June. She was immediately taken up by the doctors of the regional vascular center and the neurologists of the medical unit. The chief specialists of the regional Ministry of Health and scientists of the Perm State Medical University provided them with advice.
After her clinical death, the work of Mary's nervous system was disrupted. She could not sit up on her own, get up, take objects with her hands, practically did not see. The doctors had to return the patient's intellectual, mental abilities, the ability to move, communicate with the outside world, and perform simple actions.
By the way, many doubted the likelihood of this, given her condition and survey data. A whole team of specialists worked with Masha - neurologists, rehabilitologists, kinesitherapists, psychologists, speech therapists of the medical unit. She underwent complex therapy to improve the functioning of the nervous system, sensory organs, re-taught her to swallow, speak, and restore motor activity. To resume the work of the muscles, they prescribed high-calorie protein nutrition, massage, and physiotherapy exercises. And already in the second week of Maria's stay at the clinic, the doctors noticed improvements.
Rehabilitation of patients with lesions of the nervous system is very similar to developmental activities with a child. It is necessary to re-learn to take objects, dress, walk. When this work began to bear fruit, the doctors breathed a sigh of relief. The roommates looked at Masha like a miracle. She regained her speech, clear consciousness, her eyesight was partially restored, she began to move around the ward, breathe and eat independently. But the girl still does not remember herself since the age of 18, she has a long way to go - to realize and accept what happened to her.
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“This case is unique - the recovery of such patients is extremely unlikely,” said N. Novikova, head of the neurology department.
“Maria’s story is an example of how doctors should work: make the most of all opportunities, no matter how difficult the patient’s condition may be,” noted Olga Kovtun, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health of the Perm Territory. - And this victory can rightfully be divided among themselves by the doctors of the medical unit, and the main specialists of the Ministry of Health, and the scientists of the Perm State Medical University. Interaction, mutual understanding, mutual assistance - these are the three whales, thanks to which the doctors managed to put a patient with such a severe pathology on her feet.
Now the girl was discharged from the hospital. She will spend several weeks at home, in her native village near Perm, where she is monitored by local doctors. And then he will again go for rehabilitation to the medical unit No. 11.