Speaking to media persons at a press conference at the Rakhsha Multispeciality Hospital's Diabetes & Cardiac Speciality Centre at Malad, Dr Pranav Kabra - cardiac specialist and diabetologist on Sunday evening said that Tv actress Gehana Vasisth was a few minutes away from setting into a medical condition called cerebral oedema and coma leading to death on Thursday. Now she is on the path to recovery. "If specialized emergency treatment was denied to her for more than a few more minutes late on Thursday evening when she was admitted to the ICU at Raksha Hospital, Gehana Vasisth would not be with us today," Dr Kabra explained.
“Due to various complications in her vitals and body, the differential diagnosis was concluded as diabetic ketoacidosis (DK). Diabetic Ketoacidosis had reached a very advanced stage in Gehana's system. Diabetic ketoacidosis is a serious complication of diabetes that occurs when your body produces high levels of blood acids called ketones,” he explained. The acid reaches your brain and cerebral region causing cardiac arrest, decreasing potassium and calcium in the heart muscles thus causing sure death if not treated in very urgent emergency said, Dr Kabra.
The condition develops when your body can't produce enough insulin and is affected by various other factors, including the consumption of other drugs. Her pulse was very feeble and BP was very low. We gave Gehana CPR (Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation) and one electric shock followed by ventilator and life-saving inotropic drugs and IV fluids.
Medical evidence proves that hyperglycemia as a cause of sudden death in patients with both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. Hypoglycemia is a condition caused by a very low level of blood sugar (glucose). A variety of conditions — many rare — can cause low blood sugar in people even without diabetes. It was her good luck that she was brought directly to the only cardiac and diabetic speciality care centre in Malad West and that the centre was less than 15 minutes away from where she was. Raksha Hospital is fortunate to be equipped with very high-end, sophisticated and life-saving equipment in such medical emergencies, which is not available in most of the other hospitals in Malad. If she were to be taken elsewhere, not just the time involved in travelling a longer distance in bumper to bumper traffic, maybe similar sophisticated equipment and medical expertise may not have been available.
In Gehana Vaisisth's case, she was suffering from hyperglycemia leading to brain oedema, hypoxia and sudden cardiac arrest when she was brought to Raksha Multispeciality Hospital. It causes cerebral damage leading to almost sure death, explained Dr Pankaj Singh Intensivist who was part of the team that treated Gehana Vasisth along with Dr Kabra who was the main consultant and expert.
We immediately put her on IV fluids and ventilator support and started treatment with inotropic drugs to pull her out of the jaws of death. Three days later, after struggling with almost sure death and thanks to the prompt expertise of doctors at Raksha Hospital who were updated with the latest in medical expertise and updates and ready to take unconventional risks, she is responding to stimuli but is not able to meet people. The day she was brought in, her sugar was over 530, today it is down to around 250.
She needs 3-4 days to recover and may be possible to be discharged with proper monitoring of glucose levels, heart rate and other vital parameters, depending on her clinical condition and outcomes.
Image source: Instagram/ gehana_vasisth