Patient without a heartbeat is brought back to life by machine after THREE hours with 20,000 chest presses



A man whose heart had stopped was brought back from the dead after three and a half hours thanks to a machine that performed 20,000 life-saving compressions.



Arun Bhasin, 53, was found lying unconscious in Croydon in December temperatures of -10C. He was rushed to Croydon University Hospital but suffered a cardiac arrest.

Lucky to be alive: Arun Bhasin needed 20,000 heart compressions before his pulse returned

Luckily for him he was under the care of two leading resuscitation doctors, who hooked him up to a revolutionary cardiac support machine.



The Zoll AutoPulse pump, which is battery operated, performed 100 compressions per minute.



It maintained Mr Bhasin's heartbeat for more than three hours while he was stabilised by medics and needed four full batteries to keep going.



He is now back at his home in East London and well on the road to recovery.

The AutoPulse machine performs more consistent CPR than specialised teams

Nigel Raghunath, lead consultant in A&E, who treated Mr Bhasin said he had never seen such a remarkable case in his 15 years in Accident and Emergency care.

He praised the AutoPulse device, which moves more blood more consistently than is possible with relay teams performing traditional CPR.



Dr Raghunath said: 'Even a fully-trained professional finds it hard to deliver consistent, high quality chest compressions when attempting to resuscitate someone whose heart has stopped beating.



'A&E teams have a range of equipment available but the new device means we can carry on helping someone’s heart to beat for much longer improving blood flow to vital organs and increasing their chances of recovery.'



But Mr Arun was also keen to praise the doctors who treated him.

'I should be dead. I can't believe they kept me alive for so long. It's a miracle,' he told the Daily Mirror.