Car crash impact put heart back on the beat
March 25, 2006
A PROFESSOR whose car collided with a tree after he suffered a cardiac arrest was brought back to life when the impact of the steering wheel against his chest restarted his heart.
Professor Ronald Mann said he owed his life to a "remarkable and very unusual" event. "I am in no doubt that I would have spent the rest of my day at the undertakers had things not happened the way they did," he said.
"It is known that a sharp blow to the chest can act in the same way as a defibrillator, but it is a very rare occurrence and I have had no previous experience of this," said the 77-year-old professor, who edits a specialist medical journal and was in charge of a research unit at Southampton General Hospital, Hampshire.
"I had the kind of heart attack that causes people to drop dead. I lost consciousness within a few seconds. My front-seat passenger tried to grab the handbrake but was unable to do so and my car crashed into a tree.
"Although I was wearing a seatbelt the impact caused me to jolt forward and hit the steering wheel. It split in two but the blow restarted my heart.
"I have every reason to consider myself very fortunate because, perversely, the crash saved my life. If my cardiac arrest had occurred in a different situation, out walking or something like that, I would not be here."
Had his 10-year-old Honda been fitted with an airbag he probably would not have survived. Professor Mann, who suffered a heart attack 11 years ago, said he had felt "very well" up until his cardiac arrest.
"Fortunately I was travelling slowly but even so my three passengers and I had to be cut free. I had come round by then and the emergency services were wonderful."
They were taken to hospital where Professor Mann, a widower, remained for six weeks. He is now back at work at Southampton General Hospital.
Dr John Morgan, the consultant cardiologist who treated Professor Mann, said: "Before the crash his heart went into a particularly fast abnormal rhythm. It went so quickly that it stopped working. By any other name this was a heart attack.
"Hitting the steering wheel brought the heart back into a normal rhythm and shocked it into working again. Had he not hit the steering wheel then he would be dead. It is fair to say it saved his life.
"I have never come across a case quite like this before. Professor Mann is a very lucky chap. We have now implanted a defibrillator which can shock his heart back into normal rhythm again. It is definitely a safer way of doing it than using a steering wheel."
Makes no sense, but ok.
