THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A 38-year-old engineer who was put on life support system for 44 days for severe Covid infection has been discharged from a private tertiary care hospital in Thiruvananthapuram. He was in home quarantine after turning Covid positive and later admitted to the hospital after his oxygen saturation dropped suddenly.
The patient was given oxygen support and moved to the multidisciplinary ICU. He was then put on the ventilator as his condition worsened after he developed pneumonia and his lungs function dropped. He was treated and brought back to life by employing Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) - a procedure which oxygenates a patient’s blood outside the body thereby allowing the heart and lungs to rest.
ECMO is employed for providing prolonged cardiac and respiratory support to persons whose heart and lungs are unable to provide an adequate amount of oxygen exchange or perfusion to sustain life, said cardio-thoracic and vascular surgery senior consultant of KIMSHEALTH, Dr Shaji Palangandan.
However, through the continuous use of the machine its oxygenator loses efficacy after 21 days and has to be replaced. “The challenge was to replace the oxygenator in a matter of 24 seconds, which was done successfully. There is also the chance of blood clotting as a result of the continuous flow of blood into the ECMO machine from the patient,” Dr Palangandan said.
When the patient’s health improved he was weaned away from the ECMO machine and the ventilator.