The patient was saved by the injection of alcohol into the heart
Last reviewed: 29.11.2021
All iLive content is medically reviewed or fact checked to ensure as much factual accuracy as possible.
We have strict sourcing guidelines and only link to reputable media sites, academic research institutions and, whenever possible, medically peer reviewed studies. Note that the numbers in parentheses ([1], [2], etc.) are clickable links to these studies.
If you feel that any of our content is inaccurate, out-of-date, or otherwise questionable, please select it and press Ctrl + Enter.
Everyone knows that excessive consumption of alcohol is harmful to health, however, as it turned out, a small dose of alcohol can have a directly saving effect. On his own example, this proved the 77-year-old resident of Bristol, Ronald Eldom.
Ronald, who suffered from a ventricular tachycardia, injected into his heart alcohol, which provoked a heart attack. However, do not think that the doctors deliberately put the life of the patient at risk, on the contrary - so the elderly person was saved.
The doctors diagnosed the man with a "ventricular tachycardia", which developed against the background of a previous heart attack.
Ventricular tachycardia is characterized by frequent pain in the chest and a high rate of contraction of the ventricles of the heart. The heart does not function properly, which results in shortness of breath, dizziness and palpitations. If to put the disease on its own, it can lead to serious consequences, a more dangerous stage - atrial fibrillation, which can cause heart failure.
"Ronald came to our hospital after he had symptoms of cardiac arrhythmias caused by a scar on his heart that appeared as a result of a heart attack," says cardiologist Tom Johnson.
Doctors tried to treat Mr. Eldom by traditional methods. They performed medical therapy and applied electric ablation to get rid of the muscle that caused irregular heartbeat, but this did not give the desired result, because they decided to resort to a fairly radical and unusual method of treatment - ethanol ablation.
This procedure is very rare, and the doctors who treated Eldoma never used it in practice.
Ethanol ablation is a method in which a catheter is inserted into a vein located in the groin, which in turn is guided through the vessels to the heart. Thus, doctors can determine what part of the heart muscle provokes a violation of the heart rhythm. This makes it possible to regain a normal heart rhythm.
The heart gets a small amount of alcohol, which provokes a controlled heart attack. Dr. Johnson says that if they did not apply ethanol ablation, Ronald would face death. The risk was high, but quite justified.
Doctors were able to achieve results, and thanks to their efforts, the muscle site was struck by alcohol. This problem site was then removed without problems, and the heartbeat of the elderly person came back to normal.
"I am very happy and immensely grateful to the doctors who have done everything to help me. If it were not for them, I certainly would not have survived, "says grateful Ronald Eldom.
Already three days after the operation, the patient was discharged home in perfect well-being.
Such operations are very rare, but in the case of Ronald - it was a must, because his life was at stake. Only ten such operations have been done recently.
It turns out that alcohol is not always evil, sometimes it can save human lives.