Baby boy 'frozen' for four days to save his life

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Baby boy born with a condition that made his heart rate speed way up is alive today thanks to what doctors call eight freezing treatment.

Little Edward arrives was born with a heart rate nearly double that of a typical infant -- a 5%.

Chance of surviving.

Doctor -- dated him and wrapped his body with a blanket filled with cooling gel for four days.

That lowered his body temperature.

Eventually his heart rate slowed to a normal pace.

They were able to bring his body temperature back up and now we are told he is home and doing well.

Let's talk about with doctor Kevin Campbell he's a cardiologist and assistant professor of medicine.

At the University of North Carolina this is a procedure that you have used yourself is that right doctor.

Yes sir we call this.

Induce hypothermia.

And what we do is we cool the body to -- Children and in adults.

In patients who are suffering cardiac arrest or other conditions which impair blood -- such as a fast heart rate like this child -- Superman particular.

-- card via a 300.

Beats per minute heart rate that's what this little boy hat.

Yes -- we see super ventricular -- -- -- is in both children and in adults.

In children particularly need -- -- that occurs about 5% of the time.

And it can be life threatening its very important to intervene very quickly as these folks did in the UK.

So his body is is chilled down to a a body temperature.

Normal we know is 98 point six they took his body temperature down to about.

91 degrees why does that not do damage to the body.

The way it is done is it down regulates the rate at which the cells in the brain and the other organs used nutrients and process waste.

So when it says it allows time for the.

Doctors to give therapy for that super ventricular attacker -- or the other cause of the heart are the heart problem.

And it allows the cells not to die so that we preserve -- -- logic functions.

We know from a study in The New England Journal of Medicine in 2005.

That this is now first line therapy for out of hospital cardiac arrest than adults.

And after I guess four days his heart started beating normally I guess a 160 beats per minute is is normal for on -- born and they got into that -- they were able to bring his -- is body temperature back up and look at him now six months old.

His mother says he is perfectly happy and healthy and everything is good is and it's absolutely an amazing story gotta make you happy to be a doctor when this kind of thing happens on.

It is it is so gratifying to see that things that we worked so hard to provide for our patients.

Return an outcome like this and I think.

The cooling therapy certainly serve to lower the heart rate in some ways and it also.

I think probably resulted in preserving neurological function in the time -- which he was.

Having low blood pressures and and cardiovascular collapse with this fact McCarty obviously at six months old he can't really -- yet you can't totally evaluate him what do you think about the future I mean is he likely to suffer any.

Long term problems as a result of all this.

I think he's probably neurological -- intact -- going to be able to function normally.

I think at some point he will have to have his super ventricular attacker -- yet addressed.

We can -- For -- procedures called cardiac appalachians.

Where we actually take electrical catheters into the heart find the abnormal area and get rid of it -- -- radio frequency -- and cure the patient forever.

Yeah and -- a lot of this I guess was caused by the fact that he was born prematurely the heart probably wasn't ready to do.

The job that it was called upon to do when when he was born at 35 weeks.

Sometimes we are born with these extra pathways that bypassed the normal wiring of the heart.

And that was probably a contributing factor in this particular case -- All right it's again a fascinating story doctor Kevin Campbell.

From the U and the seat cardiology department.

Thanks very much for -- being with us.

Thank you for having me happy Valentine's Day and to you as well and hit and is the the little boy's mother says all I wanted to do was scoop him up and give him a warm.

Level -- imagine Israelis have been his last this is they're all wrapped in -- everything.

Pretty cute little boy that -- -- -- CM it's said to be great now that's amazing what an amazing story.

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Baby boy 'frozen' for four days to save his life

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