Tadeusz Petelenz of the Cardiological Foundation in Katowice, Poland, said Tuesday the pumping action caused by vigorous coughing could push blood through the body and to the brain for valuable minutes while an ambulance arrived.

Every year one in a 1,000 people in the Western world die from a cardiac arrest, the vast majority caused by a sudden problem with the heart's rhythm.

In these cases, properly timed and performed coughs can allow the patient to maintain consciousness and even regain an effective heart beat, Petelenz told the annual meeting of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).

Currently, only one in 10 victims of cardiac arrest survive without serious brain damage.

High-risk patients should therefore be taught how to cough effectively, starting with a single cough every one to two seconds in bouts of five coughs, Petelenz said.