AustinHealth: Heart
attack treatment

FREDERICK, Md. (NBC) - A Maryland woman is celebrating a new chance at life after she died from a heart attack but was brought back to life at the hospital. A team of doctors and a new technology helped save Susan Reilly.

At just 48 years old, Reilly suffered from a heart attack that killed her instantly. It was Halloween night, and she was preparing to hand out candy to trick-or-treaters.

"The last thing I remember that evening is taking some candy out of the bag, putting it into the bowl and then picking the bowl up and just kind of heading this way [toward the door]," said Reilly.

Reilly then came out to the front door and walked down the steps, but she does not remember anything. She sat down on the front steps to pass out candy when her heart stopped beating, and she biologically died. Neighbors found her face-first in the mulch when they frantically called 911.

Reilly was taken to the Cath Lab at Frederick Memorial Hospital to undergo a procedure that has only been done in the hospital for seven months.

"A catheter like this, which is essentially just a hollow tube, is threaded up the aorta and placed in a position such that we can actually engage the arteries that supply the heart," said Dr. Laurence Kelley, interventional cardiologist.

Using the system called C-Port, doctors were able to locate the blockage quickly. They inserted a balloon through the catheter, and broke apart the clot. C-Port saved her life.

"She would have never made it," said Dr. John Vitarello, cardiologist. "She experienced sudden death. She had a totally blocked artery. There's this totally blocked main artery. She cannot be transported without blood flow to the brain."

It is a procedure that is usually done in larger hospitals.

"If we can restore blood flow to that area of the heart muscle through the blockage, then we can interrupt that heart attack and save heart muscle," said Kelley.

C-Port has saved the lives of many patients at the hospital. Nine of them, like Susan, would have died without this technology.

"People who actually were, medically, legally dead, receiving CPR, to have them walk out of the hospital is one of the most rewarding experiences one can have," said Kelley.

Reilly is not just walking out the door of the hospital. She is preparing to walk down the aisle with her fiance Deon.

"Because of the heart attack two weeks ago, we postponed it until January, early January," said Reilly.

It is a second chance at life and a new beginning for this couple. There are warning signs people can watch out for to catch a heart attack in its early stages.

Signs of a heart attack:

• Chest discomfort, not necessarily pain, but a general tightness or burning sensation that most people mistake for indigestion
• Pain in your left arm
• Shortness of breath
• Nausea and vomiting
• Unexplained sweats
• Dizziness or near-fainting