Tumour Removed From Windpipe With ECMO Support For First Time In Odisha

Cuttack: In a rare surgery stated to be the first of its kind in Odisha, a tumor was removed from the trachea of a 21-year-old youth with the use of ECMO support at SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack.

Sources said the rare procedure was performed on the patient from Deogarh district at the Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery department of the premier medical college and hospital.

It was not possible to conduct the surgery by administering anesthesia as the tumor was found in the windpipe of the patient. Therefore, the doctors at the premier healthcare institute decided to perform the surgery by using ECMO support.

The surgery took over four hours and the entire procedure was successfully carried out. The patient is nor recovering at the hospital.

Happy over the successful surgery, family members of the patient said that they first consulted doctors at Deogarh hospital and then moved to Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (VIMSAR) at Burla. The patient was then referred to SCBMCH, they said.

Stating that the SCB Medical College and Hospital now has nine ECMO machines, head of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery department, Prof Dr Manoj Patnaik said more such procedures can be conducted in the future with the use of these machines.

Apart from treating Covid-19 patients, the ECMO machines can be used for the treatment of patients in case of drowning, pneumonia, snake bite and cardiac arrest, he said.

The ECMO machine can also be used during heart and lungs transplantation, he said, adding that all the nine machines at the hospital are fully operational and can be used whenever required.

It may be noted that the nine ECMO machines were brought to SCB Mecical College and Hospital in 2021 for treatment of Covid-19.