Young basketball player alive due to AED and ‘cooling’ procedure after cardiac arrest

This is so scary to me, a mom of three young kids. 18 year old Adam Thielen went it cardiac arrest while on the sidelines of his school basketball game. Thanks to spectators that were familiar with an AED, this 3 sport athlete was revived as his parents looked on.

Adam was rushed to Monticello Hospital where he was stabilized, then, moved quickly to North Memorial in Robbinsdale, where doctors, led by Emergency Physician Marc Conterato, hurried to protect Adam’s brain by using what must be medicine’s “coolest” procedure. “What we’ve learned in recent years is if we can cool them down relatively quickly, take the patient’s core body temperature down to about 90 degrees Fahrenheit (89.3 degrees) and keep them there for about 24-48 hours and slowly re-warm them, we can markedly improve patients’ outcome and minimize or completely alleviate any sort of brain injury.”

Remarkable, he will recover and lose no capacities. Basketball will forever be put on hold but even the 18 year old said himself, “what’s more important, sports or living?”. Adam has a primary arrhythmic problem called ‘Long Q.T.’ It affects just 1 in 100,000 people his age.

via KARE 11TV