A man who suffered a cardiac arrest while driving has become the first patient at University Hospital Coventry to receive an innovative new heart treatment.

Cameron Mair, 33, was driving over Clopton Bridge in Stratford-upon-Avon on 21 July when went into cardiac arrest, and had to be pulled out of his car by a passing driver, who performed CPR.

He was fitted with an Extravascular Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (EV-ICD), which monitors the heartbeat and delivers small electrical signals if it picks up abnormal rhythms.

Mair said he was "very nervous" before the procedure but afterwards he felt "great" and now had extra protection for the future.

"I feel very well, it has given me a second chance - I have got two little boys so I am trying to do everything I can with them," he told the BBC.

Mair said a woman driving past saw him struggling in the car, pulled him out and started CPR while her father ran down to the Boathouse restaurant for help.

Luckily the restaurant had a defibrillator and one of the employees from the restaurant raced to the bridge to help him.

"They pretty much saved me, and then the ambulance came and took me to Coventry," he said.

In a traditional ICD, the wire is placed through the veins and into the heart, but with an EV-ICD, the wire sits underneath the breastbone, outside the heart and blood vessels.

This means the heart and veins are left untouched which can reduce the risk of long-term complications.

The EV-ICD can also deliver a type of treatment called anti-tachycardia pacing, which uses small electrical signals to try to correct a fast rhythm before a shock is needed.

Mair said: "It's been a lot to take in, but it's all been worth it - hopefully I can get back to a normal life."

He added that Consultant Cardiologist Dr Ven Lim, who fitted the device, was "fantastic" and that he was "really looked after" by hospital staff.

Lim said EV-ICDs were a relatively new technology and only a few centres in the UK provided this service.

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University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire