China woman in life-saving double, first by ‘hero’ Spanish doctor after airport heart attack then innovative surgery
- Woman has cardiac arrest at China airport, visiting heart doctor gives CPR
- He is top cardiologist, invented surgical technique woman later received
The life of a woman in China has been saved twice after she had a heart attack at an airport where a Spanish cardiologist happened to be waiting for his flight.
The 53-year-old woman, surnamed Chen, had a cardiac arrest at the Wuhan Tianhe International Airport, in central China’s Hubei province, while waiting at a China Airlines gate with her husband and daughter in February.
An onlookers’ scream attracted the attention of Eduard Quintana, a cardiovascular surgeon who was travelling back to Spain.
He immediately gave first aid and CPR to Chen, bringing her back to life before a medical team arrived.
The surgeon from Hospital Clinic Barcelona has been hailed a hero by online observers in China.
Chen was later diagnosed with hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy, a disease characterised by a thickened wall between the left and right ventricles that stops the heart from taking in and pumping out enough blood.