Bhubaneswar: Doctors at the Institute of Medical Sciences and SUM Hospital, faculty of the SOA Deemed to be University here, were successful in turning around a COVID-19 patient whose lungs had suffered 90% damage by using the Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation, also known as ECMO in medical parlance.
The 49-year-old patient, Sujit Kumar Singh, was infected by coronavirus and admitted to the SUM COVID Hospital on September 15. After initial treatment, he was shifted to the Critical Care Unit of the IMS and SUM Hospital. His condition had turned serious as both his lungs had suffered 90% damage, said Dr Shakti Bedanta Mishra, Head of the hospital’s Critical Care Unit.
“He was put on ventilator and subjected to high flow nasal oxygen therapy but the measures did not yield the desired result. Then we decided to try ECMO,” he said. As it led to functioning of the lungs, the medical team concentrated on repairing the lungs.
ECMO is an extracorporeal technique of providing prolonged cardiac and respiratory support to persons whose heart and lungs are unable to provide an adequate amount of gas exchange or perfusion to sustain life.
The patient began to recover slowly and he was put through physiotherapy as well, Dr. Debasish Sahu, Head of the Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery department said. The recovery process took about two months securing a rare success for such cases in the state.
A seven-member medical team comprising Dr. Mishra, Dr. Sahu, Dr. Arun Rath and Dr. Abhilash Dash, associate professors in the Critical Care Unit, Dr. Sushanta Bhoi, consultant, cardiac anesthesia, Dr. Stithipragyan Dalabehera, Head of the Physiotherapy department and Sanatan Chand, perfusionist, treated the patient.
