Doctors 'Freeze' Baby to Save His Life, Slow Rapid Heart Beat

Doctors in London applied frozen gel packs to a newborn baby in a radical attempt to save his life.

The baby, Edward, was born with an irregular, expretemly rapid heart beat, symptoms of a condition called supreventricular tachycardia (SVT), which "can lead to heart failure or affect internal organs," reports ABC News.

His mother, Claire Ives, discovered while still pregnant that the baby's heart beat was 300 beats per minute, nearly twice the normal rate. Alarmed by this discovery, doctors at the University College London hospital delivered the baby via emergency C-section, but estimated that Edward had less than a five percent chance of survival, says ABC.

Soon after he was born, Edward's heart was still beating at a dangerously high level. Doctors tried to regulate his heart rate using traditional techniques, but nothing worked.

"We'd gone through all the usual maneuvers that usually work in babies, giving drugs...trying to shock the heart, the baby and get [a healthy heart rate back]," Dr. Nicola Robertson told ABC.

When those measures failed, doctors decided to try something that had never used to treat SVT, according to ABC: lowering Edward's body temperature "to protect his vital organs and slow his heart rate."

They wrapped him in a frozen gel blanket to lower his body temperature over a period of hours, which in turn lowered and regulated his heart beat. But when they removed the ice pack and Edward began to warm up, his heart once again raced to dangerous levels---so they again applied the cooling gel packs.

"That was one of the worst nights," his mother told ABC News. "I asked one of the nurses if he was going to die and she said he might."

But the story has a happy ending. The second time, doctors warmed Edward more slowly and his heart rate remained stable. His parents were able to bring him home after a month in the hospital, and he is now a healthy six-month old. According to ABC News's report, doctors do not think Edward will suffer again from SVT, though they are monitoring him closely.

Claire Ives said the ordeal has made her "appreciate all the small things" about her three children.