Englishman Ronald Aldom suffered from an unusual heart rhythm called ventricular tachychardia, which can be fatal if left unchecked.
His doctors had tried to treat it without success – until they hit upon the little-used idea of a direct injection of neat ethyl alcohol directly into Mr Aldom’s heart.
The alcohol injection triggered a “controlled heart attack” that killed of some of his heart muscle, and restored a more regular rhythm to the beating heart ventricles.
The rare treatment has only been conducted a handful of times in the UK, and his doctors said it was used as a last resort – without treatment Mr Aldom would not have been able to leave hospital, and is likely to have died.
“While it sounds like a very barbaric treatment, it was a very rewarding one, [but] very high risk,” Mr Aldom’s cardiologist told ABC News.
Mr Aldom was thrilled to be out of the hospital: “I think it’s wonderful that the doctors tried everything to help me,” he said. “If they hadn’t had done this I wouldn’t be here now.”