Cardiac arrest, a gas protects the brain from damage

A sixty-year-old, at the Milan polyclinic, victim of a cardiac arrest he was then treated with argon-based therapy. A inert gas able to strengthen the resistance of neurons in case of oxygen deficiency. After a week, the man was discharged without injury.

Victims of cardiac arrest in Italy and in the world are the most common: 45 thousand deaths per year. Even in the case of survival, sometimes it still does not leave indifferent. Cardiac arrest can cause the brain to run out of oxygen for some time, even threatening neurons. Scientists may have found a gas as a solution. This is argon, an inert gas that protects the brain from the negative effects of a heart attack. Neurological damage is limited and the recovery of cognitive functions.

Argon represents 1% of the Earth’s atmosphere and is found in large quantities in nature. Testimony of its effectiveness is the 60-year-old who returned home without damage after a heart attack. If you use the Argon, you can trade directly on mitochondria, called human cellular “powerhouses”. This makes them more resistant to temporary oxygen starvation. Already in 2012, this experiment with argon on animals showed a clear decrease in mortality after cardiac arrest.

Here the Milanese researchers have continued on this path for ten years. Today finally with a successful application on humans. In the future, the researchers will expand their patient numbers and use Argon on 50 well-selected patients. Everything to demonstrate the efficacy and safety of the treatment. If it continues to deliver such great and important results, such argon therapy could revolutionize the treatment and outcomes of cardiac arrest.