4,000 runners given medical aid during Mumbai Marathon

Of the 40,485 participants in the Mumbai Marathon on Sunday, close to 4,000 persons required medical help.

While one person suffered a cardiac arrest, 13 others were hospitalised for convulsions and dehydration. The rest suffered from muscle cramps and minor injuries.

Fifty two-year-old Powai resident Kirit Ganatra's heart stopped beating, close to 500 metres from the finishing line. Ganatra had participated in the half marathon spanning over 21 km and was running from Bandra to CST.

"Our volunteers at the finishing line saw him collapsing and rushed to his rescue," said Dr Vijay D'Silva, medical director, Asian Heart Institute (AHI), Bandra.

Doctors realised that Ganatra's heart had stopped beating when he collapsed. "It is hard to say as to why he suffered a cardiac arrest or fell down. It may have been giddiness from exhaustion or him tripping over and falling," said Dr D'Silva.

His blood pressure and pulse were not being recorded when he fell. The electrocardiogram recordings threw up a flat line on the screen. He was resuscitated on the spot by doctors and taken to Bombay Hospital.

"When he arrived at the hospital close to 9 am, his heart was revived and blood pressure and pulse could be recorded. However, he was gasping for breath. "It is possible that because his heart stopped beating, oxygen supply to the brain would have been affected and he was feeling breathless. We put have put him on a ventilator to help him breathe and have sedated him mildly," he said.

An eventual CT scan of the brain revealed a swelling on his head.

"He is under observation for 48 hours. He is stable at the moment with normal blood pressure and heat beating. An angiography will be conducted on Monday to ascertain if there is any damage to the heart," said Dr Sriram Patki, intensivist at Bombay Hospital.

"Ganatra does not have a previous history of heart attack, diabetes or hypertension. It seems he didn't train adequately this time around. He has participated in 4-5 marathons earlier," he said.

Similarly, 27-year-old Ashish Malkar, a pharma company executive, who was running the 10-km corporate run collapsed near the finishing line. He is a known epileptic patient and doctors said dehydration might have triggered off convulsions. He then hit his head on the pavement and suffered injuries.

Of the 4,000 persons who were given medical aid, 14 had to be hospitalised. Ten per cent participants required medical aid this time, compared to eight last year.

The weather was pleasant and did not contribute majorly to dehydration. However, runners should maintain minimum intake of liquids, advise doctors.

The minimum temperature on Sunday morning was at 15.4 degrees Celsius at Colaba and 19.7 degrees Celsius at Santa Cruz. The weather got warmer as the day progressed, reaching 27-29 degrees Celsius at Colaba and Santa Cruz, respectively. Humidity was 56-68%.

More patients suffered from dehydration this year, observed doctors. "Oral dehydration, treatment for cramps, physiotherapy and nausea were the most-attended problems. Thirty runners were treated for intravenous rehydration therapy. The number of dehydrated runners has increased since last year," said Dr D'Silva.

"Younger runners, too, faced problems this time. People are unaware of what goes on inside their body. We recommend a medical check-up and conditional training before running to all participants. A large number of people are over-confident and adventurous. They refrain from seeing a doctor before running. That is unadvisable," said Dr D'Silva.

Two other reasons are extreme stress and excitement. "If a person undertakes arduous activities like continuous running for hours, he can injure himself. Also, runners get excited as the finishing line nears and the level of excitement heightens suddenly, causing injuries," said Dr Ramakant Panda, MD, AHI.

—with inputs from Tanea Bandyopadhyay