HYDERABAD: Doctors at Yashoda Hospitals on Friday successfully performed ‘Whole-Lung Lavage’ (WLL) on a 24-year-old woman techie from Seattle, USA.
The patient Divya, a software engineer, was admitted to Yashoda Hospitals Somajiguda last month with a progressively worsening breathlessness for the last six months.
Doctors at US hospitals failed to diagnose even after extensive evaluation. Subsequently, she returned to Hyderabad. She was on complete oxygen support when she was admitted, according to doctors at Yashoda.
A team of interventional pulmonologists performed initial investigations and confirmed a very rare lung disease, “Pulmonary Alveolar Proteinosis”.
The WLL procedure was performed by a team headed by Dr MV Nagarjuna, Dr P Navneet Sagar Reddy and the anesthesia team headed by Dr Chandrasekhar.
Speaking to media, Dr MV Nagarjuna explained, “In this procedure, each lung is washed with several litres of saline. This cycle of instillation and drainage is continued till the return fluid is completely clear.”
Dr Navneet Sagar Reddy said post surgery, she was able to walk comfortably, climb two flights of stairs and breathing on her own.