Dobkin's technique delays brain damage in heart attack victims

The Brain Injury FoundationDec 8 2010

After a heart attack and the victim stops breathing, a process of irreversible brain damage starts to occur within 3 to 4 minutes. Or does it?  

While researching cardiac arrest, Jeffrey Dobkin read about a boy drowning in icy waters.  Although submerged for over half an hour the boy was rescued, resuscitated, and recovered completely.  No brain damage.

Dobkin wondered: How can someone drown and experience no brain damage?  What delays brain damage in drowning victims?  In an emergency can it be applied to heart attack victims?  

Dobkin's research pointed to yes. He believes brain damage that occurs when someone's heart stops beating can be delayed for up to an hour.

"Cold water drowning victims survive without brain damage because of the triggering of the 'Mammalian Diving Reflex'.  This natural reflex is solely responsible for delaying brain death," says Dobkin. "And the specific trigger of the diving reflex is a facial immersion in cold water."  

Dobkin's Technique to delay brain damage in heart attack victims is simple:  Immediately apply cold, wet compresses to the face of the victim.  

His technique is an emergency time-buying procedure to delay brain damage until emergency medical personnel arrive.  It works in conjunction with CPR.

The Dobkin Technique is application of cold wet compresses to the face and eye area.  "The eyes, the ophthalmic nerve, are the trigger points," says Dobkin.  The Dobkin-Trigger Technique immediately starts to delay brain damage and gives emergency medical personnel a much greater "golden window" to respond to non-breathing victims than 4 minutes.

The Dobkin Technique works in heart attack victims - the fourth largest cause of death in the U.S.  His technique works to delay brain damage when the oxygen supply to the brain of a person is shut off (Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy) for any reason: drug overdose, choking, stroke, suffocation, electrocution.  It works at a critical time—on the scene: before initial resuscitation can be started by medical personnel.