How long can you go if your heart stops before brain injury occurs. My very dear cousin had a massive heart attack on Saturday after running a marathon. They performed CPR on her for 9 minutes until the abulance got there and shocked her. It took another hour to get her back to a regular rhythm.
Brief Answer:The first brain damages begin 3-4 minutes after the heart stops beating, and after 9 minutes the damages are irreversible. Detailed Answer:Hello, Thank you for using Chat Doctor. The timing, in the case mentioned above, seems to be good. Continuing performing CRP until help comes is the only and the adequate way of trying to save the patient. After the AED is available, and the trained staff to perform electroshock is present, then she could be shocked. The time needed to the patient to be converted in normal rhythm depends on from the patient, his basic pathology that caused the cardiac arrest, and the time when the electroshock is performed. The first brain damages begin 3-4 minutes after the heart stops beating, and after 9 minutes the damages are irreversible. This happens in case when no CRP is performed. I think, the patient in this case has had a good management, and there was a good timing of all the steps of CRP and life support.  Hope this is helpful. Let me know if you need more clarifications. Otherwise, please close and rate the answer. Kind 