FIRST USE OF DRUG SAVES LIFE.

Byline: Naush Boghossian Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - The medical staff at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial is marveling at the recovery of a gravely ill patient, saved by a new drug administered as the man's blood pressure sank to a dangerous level and shock and multiple organ dysfunction had set in.

The patient - who was not identified by name - is the first in the region to be given the drug, hospital officials said.

``He was going downhill very quickly,'' Dr. Chand Khanna said of his patient, a Saugus resident in his mid-60s suffering from septic shock. ``We really though we would lose him.''

The medical team quickly concluded that the patient's only chance at life was the $6,000-a-dose medication Xigris, which was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in November to treat sepsis - a severe and usually fatal syndrome characterized by the whole body responding to infection, which can rapidly lead to loss of limbs, organ dysfunction and death.

Doctors stressed that they had only a small window of opportunity - only a few hours after the patient's abdominal surgery - to administer the drug. By giving the drug too early they would risk bleeding, and if they waited too long, it would be too late to save him.

Not only did the drug save the patient's life, the doctors and nurses were surprised at how quickly his vital signs returned to normal.

Nurse Josie Moreno, who cared for the patient, said he had never seen medication work so quickly, so well and in such a short period of time.

``We didn't know what to expect, but we didn't expect this,'' Moreno said. ``It's just phenomenal to see the (blood) platelets go up so steadily to a normal range. I was just floored.''

Doctors said patients suffering from septic shock usually take several days to recover - if they do. According to Dr. Rajinder Kaushal, septic shock has a 70-plus-percent mortality rate.

The patient was released Monday and will be restricted in his activities in order to fully recover.

``I'm a little sore,'' said the man. ``But it's great to be alive. I feel good. Real good.''

The patient's wife, who gave doctors permission to administer the drug, said hers wasn't a difficult decision.

``I didn't think too much about it,'' she said. ``I felt there was nothing to lose and a whole lot to gain.''

Kaushal said the success should help convince residents skeptical about the quality of patient care at Newhall Memorial since the hospital filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November.

``The community should rest assured that we will continue to provide excellent care, and it doesn't matter how expensive it is,'' Kaushal said, adding that the administration never second-guessed the medical staff's request for the expensive drug. ``It reflects that any patient will get whatever is necessary and that we will provide for the patient.''

Newhall Memorial became the first hospital in northern Los Angeles County to administer Xigris, which is produced by Eli Lilly and Co., an Indianapolis-based drug firm. Each year, 750,000 people are diagnosed with sepsis and about 215,000 die of it.

The hospital's chief operating officer, Paul Salomon, whose mother and mother-in-law both died of septic shock, said that when he saw the patient, he gave immediate authorization to obtain the drug.

``We want to make sure patients survive,'' Salomon said. ``He's a miracle. It's truly a miracle.''

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(color) A patient, right, who declined to give his name, jokes with the three doctors who saved his life last week with a new drug.

Shaun Dyer/Special to the Daily News