doctors said ‘rare case‘
In Tamil Nadu, two patients have managed to recover miraculously after battling the corona epidemic for about 72 days. The special hand of medical system named ECMO is being told in their survival.
- Rare case of patients recovering
- The patient was admitted in MGM Hospital
- body loses immunity power
CHENNAI: Two patients who were on Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) for several months due to the Coronavirus and a complicated lung disease have been miraculously cured. Doctors are also expressing surprise on these two cases that have come up in Chennai.
- Rare case of patients recovering
Doctors believe that the recovery of patients after such a long ECMO is very low, as ECMO is recommended only for a period of a few hours or a few days in preparation for lung transplant. According to doctors, ECMO which pumps and oxygenates the patient’s blood from outside the body. This removes the pressure of pumping blood from the heart and lungs.
- The patient was admitted in MGM Hospital
According to the report, a 32-year-old coronavirus-infected patient was on ECMO support for the last 72 days at MGM Hospital in the city. Doctors say that this is probably the first case of a patient who has been on ECMO support for such a long period of life. The patient was admitted to the hospital on 18 May due to coronavirus. After that the patient’s lungs started getting worse. Along with this, he also started having problems related to bleeding and ENT. After this the patient was kept on ECMO in the first week of June. In the second week of June, he was admitted to another hospital and got a tracheostomy test done.
According to Dr. KR Balakrishnan, President, MGM Healthcare and Director, Department of Cardiology, the patient was admitted to his hospital on July 13. At that time the problem in his lungs had increased. After which it was decided to put him on ECMO support to stabilize his condition. After this, treatment of his corona and other diseases was started one by one.
- body loses immunity power
Dr Suresh Rao of the Lung Department of the hospital said that patients who are given life support through artificial means for a long time experience a lot of variation. Due to this, their body loses its immunity power and the risk of getting infected by their body is very high. In such cases the chances of recovery are very less. Efforts are made to give rest to the lungs and heart of such patients by keeping them on ECMO. So that the rest of the patient’s organs can start working. According to doctors, the patient’s body had responded positively during the treatment and his pulse is stable.
A similar story is also of a 56-year-old corona patient at Rela Hospital in Chennai. That patient has also miraculously been cured by beating death. According to doctors, a patient named Mudizza was confirmed to have a coronavirus infection in late April. After that he started having trouble breathing. Along with the corona, he also had moderate pneumonia. He said that his oxygen saturation level (Sp02) in the room air was 92%. While he needed 15 liters of oxygen per minute to breathe. After this Dr. C. Arumugam decided to give him ECMO support.
- Patient started to improve after 50 days
According to Dr C Arumugam, after being on ECMO for 50 days, the patient started improving and the lungs started functioning as well. After which it was decided to treat him without a lung transplant. On the 54th day after being placed on ECMO, CT scan showed improvement in the patient’s condition. After which gradually his life support started reducing. After this, by the end of July, he was removed from the ventilator.
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