They say cats have 9 lives, but this woman had 10!

“ Cats Have Nine Lives, But This Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Patient Has Had Ten (So Far) “. This is how the doctors at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, who treated a 62-year-old retiree, chose to title the article reporting this extraordinary case published last April. Almost twenty years ago, this woman, aged 44 at the time, was diagnosed with obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. This genetic disease causes a thickening of the walls of the heart which obstructs blood circulation. Like many cases, it presents few or no symptoms betraying the presence of an anomaly when the latter is detected. However, several members of his family were diagnosed with the same disease and two of his brothers died from it at the ages of 20 and 34.

A heart saved from death 10 times

Indeed, while hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is subtle, the affected heart can stop at any time – a phenomenon called sudden cardiac death. Fortunately, the 44-year-old patient is the ideal candidate for the installation of a device that prevents sudden cardiac death, a defibrillatordefibrillator implantable automatic device (ICD). When it detects a potentially fatal abnormality in the heart’s rhythm, the device sends a small electrical shock to regulate the heart’s beating. Unlike the pacemakerpacemakerthe ICD can also treat tachycardias (too high rate) while the pacemaker is effective in the event of bradycardiabradycardia (pace too low). In the majority of patients, the ICD detects and prevents between one to three cardiac arrestscardiac arrests during its period of use, but in the extraordinary case of this now 62-year-old woman, it saved her life 10 times in 19 years. A record among the patients followed by doctors at the Boston hospital.

L’implantimplant saved her life the first time 17 months after its installation, then when the patient was 48 years old, then at the age of 49, twice in the year she turned 51, three times in the year she turned 54 and twice at age 62. Each time, it was during completely banal circumstances: five times during his sleepsleep without her noticing and five other times during sedentary activities during which she felt unwell. Of all these moments when her heart failed, the patient only remembers very little. after-effectsafter-effects. At the age of 52, she had to undergo a septal myectomy, that is to say theablationablation excess muscle around the septum, the area that separates the two ventriclesventricles of the heart. Since then, she no longer suffers from any symptoms caused by her obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and her implant continues to monitor her heartbeat. A popular belief is that cats have 9 lives, but this lady has had 10. For now.