It was saved thanks to technological advances applied to medicine. It is the story of a thirteen-year-old being treated at the Regina Margherita in Turin who suffered a cardiac arrest while she was at home. The little girl periodically complained of illness, which often caused her to lose consciousness, and had consulted numerous doctors until she began to suspect a heart problem.
A few months ago the little girl was taken to the Regina Margherita Children’s Hospital, where Doctor Fulvio Gabbarini (responsible for Pediatric Arrhythmology in the Department of Paediatrics, directed by Professor Franca Fagioli) had implanted a small device called Loop Recorder under her skin, which monitored in real time wherever she was, every heartbeat was recorded, in order to document whether her illnesses were actually caused by her heart.
Through telemedicine the little girl was therefore subjected to continuous cardiac monitoring remotely wherever she was, without having to go to hospital: in short, the cardiologist can monitor the heart of any child while he is at home playing in his bedroom or sleeping . The device was programmed in such a way that it could also transmit a text message to Doctor Gabbarini’s cell phone, in case dangerous events occurred.
And so it happened: on August 15th the girl felt ill and fainted. Her parents took her to Regina Margherita, in the meantime the ‘Loop Recorder’ had already sent the alert to the doctor, who was on holiday outside Piedmont. Having received the message, the arrhythmologist left for Turin where he implanted the pacemaker in the little girl. Telemedicine thus made it possible to diagnose two things: that the electrical impulse was periodically not generated and that she no longer had a way to go to then allow the heart to pump. After the operation the thirteen-year-old was discharged from the ward and returned home in good health.
#Girl #cardiac #arrest #saved #text #message #doctor #returned #vacation