The Treatment Subcommittee of the National Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention announced on the afternoon of July 31 that Vietnam recorded a death caused by a heart attack on top of severe underlying conditions and Covid-19 infection.
The patient, known as patient 428, was a 70-year-old man living in Minh An Ward, Hoi An City, Quang Nam Province. He had a history of chronic kidney failure, undergoing artificial dialysis twice a week for over 10 years, hypertension, heart failure, and ischemic heart disease.
On July 9, he experienced chest tightness and fatigue, and sought treatment at the Internal Medicine and Endocrinology Department of Da Nang Hospital. He was diagnosed with end-stage kidney disease, on dialysis, hypertension, ischemic heart disease, end-stage heart failure, and pneumonia.
On July 26, he tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 from a throat swab and was actively treated at Da Nang Hospital.
At 5:30 a.m. on July 30, the patient developed respiratory failure, requiring intubation and mechanical ventilation with VCV mode, and continuous venovenous hemofiltration was performed.
At 7:30 a.m. on July 30, he showed signs of slow and irregular heartbeat, followed by cardiac arrest. After five minutes of resuscitation, his heartbeat returned. Continuous venovenous hemofiltration treatment continued.
At 9:45 p.m. on July 30, he was transferred to Central Hospital in Hue, accompanied by monitoring equipment and full emergency resuscitation devices.
At 12:25 a.m. on July 31, he was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of Central Hospital Hue in critical condition, with a very high risk of death.
Five minutes later, the patient experienced slow heart rhythm and was given emergency care including mechanical ventilation in the ICU. After five minutes without a pulse, resuscitation restored his heartbeat and blood pressure rose to 190, 200 mmHg, then dropped to 140, 110/70 mmHg after 30 minutes.
Early morning on July 31, the patient suffered cardiac arrest again and despite on-site resuscitation efforts, he passed away at 5:30 a.m.
The Treatment Subcommittee assessed this was a very severe case involving an elderly patient with multiple serious underlying conditions. He had been reviewed multiple times by the Treatment Subcommittee and top experts in emergency care, cardiology, and infectious diseases. Both Da Nang Hospital and Central Hospital Hue provided active intensive care and continuous emergency treatment, but the patient ultimately died.
Cause of death: myocardial infarction in a patient with underlying hypertension, ischemic heart disease, heart failure, end-stage chronic kidney disease, complicated by respiratory failure due to heart failure and Covid-19.
