- Dounlod related videoA 9-year-old boy who was enjoying a hot dog took an overly big bite and went into cardiac arrest. The condition generally causes patients to enter into sudden cardiac arrest when they have a high fever, consume alcohol or while they're asleep cause cardiac arrest if the vagus nerve, which runs through the face and thorax to the abdomen, is stimulated — which happened in the case of the boy, who was at school when he ate the hot dog.
The large bite of food put pressure on the child's vagus nerve, which connects the abdomen to the thorax. Thevagus nerve works with the parasympathetic nervous system to control the heart, lungs and stomach.
The condition can cause sudden death, and children who have gone into cardiac arrest after eating are encouraged to undergo evaluation.
“Vagal stimulus-dependent SCA after eating a large bite of food may be the first symptom of BS. For this reason, the electrocardiographic results of the children who had a cardiac arrest after eating a large meal with big bites should be evaluated in detail,” Pediatrics reported.
According to Dr. Isa Ozyilmaz of Mehmet Akif Ersoy
The chunk of frankfurter stimulated the boy's vagus nerve, and this triggered an abnormal heart rhythm that in turn caused his heart to abruptly stop beating, Ozyilmaz and his co-authors speculated in the case study. The nerve, which extends from the head to the abdomen, helps the heart and gastrointestinal system function. Despite immediate panic, the story has a happy ending: After defibrillation, the child was resuscitated.
Oddly, the boy's family history appeared to be a clean slate with regard to special cardiac diseases. However, doctors discovered a suspicious finding on his electrocardiograph (known as an ECG or EKG) during a follow up examination.
Many people don’t know they have the [syndrome] in their family. Symptoms include sudden death and fainting, particularly fainting with physical activity oremotional distress, she adds. It’s rare, but the general population doesn’t associate itself with these kinds of health problems, we think we’ll get cancer and heart disease, but not conditions that are invisible and strike suddenly.
The total number of cases is difficult to measure, because some people may be asymptomatic or have never been tested thoroughly. Based purely on EKG findings, about four in 1,000 Americans have been diagnosed with Brugada syndrome, according to Stanford Center for Inherited Cardiovascular Disease.
The essence of the problem is not mechanical, but electrical. Thinking of the heart as an electric pump, the problem “can lead to abnormal heart rhythms in the lower chambers of the heart that can be associated with sudden death’’.
The foundation notes the disease affects more men than women with an average age of onset at 40, although newborns and young children have also been diagnosed.
If you have symptoms, go to a family doctor and request a cardiac assessment in a medical Centrefamiliar with the disorder, she says. “[For children], families need to be vigilant that fainting under these circumstances isn’t always a common thing.
About 4 in 1,000 people in the U.S. have tested positive for Brugada syndrome, according to the Stanford Center for Inherited Cardiovascular Disease.
