Desperate times call for desperate measures: Resuscitative thoracotomy in a prehospital setting

It is 5 pm on New Year’s Eve and you are on service as an emergency physician in training for the London Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS). The London Ambulance Service Control informs you of a stabbing incident in the town of Watford, England. Your helicopter arrives on the scene 10 minutes after the call and 13 minutes after the incident, along with land ambulance and police. After the scene is declared safe, you are directed to the patient, JJ, a 24-year-old male who has suffered a stabbing outside of a local bar. His friend, who made the call to EMS, tells you JJ lost consciousness about 3 minutes after the insult. The patient has no signs of life, with no palpable carotid pulse or measurable blood pressure. He is apneic and his pupils are fixed and dilated. You notice a 2-cm wound in the midclavicular line, just superior to the left nipple, consistent with a penetrating stab wound. Cardiac monitors are attached and show an initial rhythm of asystole. Closed cardiac massage is undertaken immediately with rescue breaths given using bag-valve-mask. Simultaneously, the patient is cannulated in both antecubital fossae and is administered 1 mg adrenaline with 1000 mL 0.9% saline. Emergent decompressive needle thoracotomy is performed on the left chest by placing a 14-gauge, 3.5-inch angiographic catheter into the chest cavity at the midclavicular line in the second interspace. There is no release of air but periodic bubbles and blood appear to come from the left lung. After 2 minutes of unsuccessful CPR, there is still no palpable pulse and you notice the patient’s neck veins are distended, with normal air entry and no dullness to percussion in the left hemithorax. Your helicopter is about 10 minutes away from the nearest major trauma centre