Every time we come across a situation, where our loved ones are battling life and death, we wish doctors would somehow save them with some sort of medical miracles. Yet sometimes, only miracles would do that and miracles don’t happen quite too often. However, some health professionals from decades and centuries plainly took these phenomena as a cup of tea.
Here is a list of top 3 miracles that were discovered by health professionals who thought out of the box and went on to save millions of lives for which we are still thankful.
1. Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR)
When Dr. H.R Silvester explained how chest compression and artificial ventilation could be really effective for saving a lifeless body, no one gave any ears for him to prove so. However, when he went down in action and presented in a dummy body, others too supported his idea to some extent. Although, CPR today is a complete modification of how it used to be in the 19th century, the history of CPR dated almost a century back. It is generally practiced and is mandatory for all the medics as well as paramedical practitioners. In fact, hospital workers should be at least trained to the recent updates in CPR by AHA (American Heart Association).
Also known as basic life support, CPR is a procedure where a person suddenly collapsed due to cardiac arrest is brought back to life by maintaining his airway and good chest compression. It is performed in a safe scenario where 2 people (or 1 during emergencies) would do 30 compression and 2 breaths without interrupting at a rate of 100-120 compression per minute. It is a miraculous invention and a boon to all medics which is why when a person is physiologically dead, medics instantly perform CPR due to which every year around 46% of cases of cardiac arrest are revived.
2. Defibrillation
I bet there are none, who have not yet watched any movies where a surgeon is trying to bring the main character back to his life by using two press iron like electrodes and generating shock into his body. Reminiscing right? It is very fascinating to see the straight line in the cardiac monitor turn into the rhythm of a heartbeat. Many of us have jumped with joy, no lies we all did. But, I know you wouldn’t believe me if I tell you that they are making a fool out of us. Those devices are called defibrillators and they are not used to bring a dead person back to life. I mean, yes they are but not how the movies show us.
Defibrillators are in fact used to control a ventricular tachycardia or arrhythmia by generating shock which completely stops the heart. Shocked? Yes, they stop the heart and then a doctor proceeds further with a series of alternative CPR and medications to bring the heart to its normal rhythm. Defibrillators were the first setup in 1899 by physiologists Jean-Louis Prévost and Frédéric Batelli, from University of Geneva, Switzerland. They discovered that small electrical shocks could induce ventricular fibrillation in dogs and that larger charges would reverse the condition. What did they think they were doing with the animal rights?
3. Prosthetic
Today, artificial organs or prosthetic is easily approachable and have been a boon for people with disabilities to replace the missing body part/s. They are designed and assembled according to the patient’s appearance and functional needs, and are made up of plastics, woods, rubbers or light-weighted metals like Titanium and Aluminum. Scientists are still conducting researches to discover advanced prosthetics that may even be linked to nerves.
However, the history of prosthetics might have dated back to a long time ago maybe even an era. It was first mentioned during the era of Queen Vishpala and it is said that very talented Egyptians were the ones behind the idea and a crazy Greek historian who cut off his limb to escape and replaced it later with a brand new wooden foot. Amazing!
