COVID patient with severe complications recovers after double ECMO

Chennai: In a rare occurrence, a 37-year-old person covid infected man with severe complications from Rajkot has recovered after double ECMO procedure at the MGM Healthcare in the city.

A release from the hospital today said it has successfully treated the patient with the aid of double Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO), a procedure that oxygenates a patient’s blood outside the body. It is an extremely rare occurrence as ECMO support was engaged twice especially for a COVID positive patient.

Dr. K R Balakrishnan, Chairman-Cardiac Sciences Director, Institute of Heart and Lung Transplant and Mechanical Circulatory Support, MGM Healthcare said the patient Deepak Kumar Keshav from Rajkot was shifted to MGM Healthcare on April 12 this year.

He was being treated for COVID pneumonia and was put on ventilator support. He was obese and had tested COVID positive on March 25. He was put on ECMO support on April 11 by the MGM team of doctors and slowly the support was withdrawn as the patient’s health condition improved.

“Once the ECMO was removed he was recovering well. However, he developed fungal infection and his condition started worsening. As he was breathless and his oxygen saturation was low, we didn’t have any other option but to put him on ECMO for the second time, to maintain his oxygen saturation", he said.

Gradually his clinical condition improved and he was taken off from ECMO. "We also had a backup plan for lung transplantation in case the lung was not recovering", he said, adding, the patient was now undergoing active physiotherapy and has been discharged recently from the hospital.

His health has shown good signs of recovery and he will soon be able to fly back to Rajkot. (UNI)