Japan develops 3-minute heart restart system for emergencies

Japan’s Tohoku University has created a new heart restart system for injured hearts. It involves various tasks that will enable emergency responders to restart blood circulation.

Yasuyuki Shiraishi, an associate professor at the university’s Institute of Development, Aging, and Cancer, explained that this quick response can save a person’s life.

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He and his team crafted this system after the fatal shooting of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe in June 2022. 

How does the heart restart system work?

The 3-minute system is a series of tasks that secure the patient’s airway, perform an emergency thoracotomy, control bleeding, and administer transfusions.

Cleveland Clinic defines a thoracotomy as “a procedure that lets a surgeon see into the thoracic cavity to diagnose an illness or to treat one.”

The heart restart system involves puncturing the heart’s left ventricle to attach an artificial pump while simultaneously performing emergency resuscitation and intubation. 

Cleveland Clinic says intubation is “a process where a healthcare provider inserts a tube through a person’s mouth or nose, then down into down into their trachea or windpipe.”

Furthermore, the Japan Times explained that healthcare professionals will then connect a pump to the femoral artery to establish a blood flow route to restore the heart’s circulatory function.

The heart restart system may involve an artificial lung if the patient has a lung injury. Moreover, depending on the injury’s location, it may require securing an alternative route to the femoral artery.

These processes only take three minutes, heightening the patient’s chances of survival. 

“The window to prevent brain death following the cessation of blood circulation is only three minutes,” the research team explained.

“A system that can resume circulation within this time frame is crucial. In emergencies, faster methods than this one that we have now remain impractical.

“If implemented, this system could significantly increase the number of patients saved,” they said.