Question about Michael Jackson

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Ok, I know this sounds funny of me to ask. I had read that in an attempt to restart his heart he was injected by paramedics or the house doc with adrenaline to the heart. In doing so, the needles punctured the heart wall causing damage. I have been curious about this ever since I read it. How exactly does that procedure work? Do they have to penetrate the heart wall to get adrenaline inside of the heart to the SA Node (I learned that term in anatomy class this summer). Is there any other alternative procedures they could have used other than this and defrib? I'm just confused as to why the heart wall was damaged when they have to insert the needle inside of the heart.

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Specializes in ED, OR, SAF, Corrections.

Yes, the Epi is injected directly into the heart muscle. Intra-cardiac epi acts as a powerful stimulant during cardiac standstill and also can convert fine ventricular fibrillation to a coorificer type of Vfib making the heart more responsive to electrical defibrillation. It's a last ditch effort and even if it causes damage you'd do it anyway if you wanted to exhaust all avenues - couldn't hurt, you can't get any more dead.

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Specializes in NeuroICU/SICU/MICU.

Like Anisettes said..during an arrest, you're going to cause damage to the patient's body, from needles to the heart muscle to broken ribs from CPR. It kind of goes with the territory of trying to bring someone back. And like every CPR instructor I've ever had said, you can't hurt them, they're dead! ;) This is exactly why, when I'm old and frail, I'm going to have an airtight DNR on file.

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^ reminds me "Broke ribs are a sign of great CPR"

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