Heart-lung bypass for patient with acute respiratory distress

New Delhi: A 60-year-old critically ill patient with acute respiratory distress and extremely low oxygen levels accompanied by several other morbidities was treated at a city hospital via VVECMO — a machine that acts as a heart-lung bypass and can support and perform the functions of the lungs and the heart individually and together.

The patient, Ranno, had an elongated history of asthma for which she had been on oral steroids since long.

Additionally, she was suffering from Type 2 diabetes. She had also developed pneumonia, leading to a severe lung condition — Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS).

As a result, fluid had filled up the air sacs in the lungs leading to low oxygen levels and increase in the amount of carbon dioxide in the bloodstream. She was admitted to Fortis Escorts Heart Institute, where she was put on ventilator support, post diagnosis of her condition.

This, however, was not of much help as her oxygen levels were only 80 per cent, said doctors.

She was then put on “Venovenous Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation” (VVECMO), to offer support to the lungs.

There was no serious bleeding, and the patient’s vital parameters and oxygen levels stabilised within two to three days of the treatment. Within 10 days, she was weaned of the VVECMO machine. After a three-week hospital stay, Ranno was discharged.

“When I first saw the patient, we were not sure about her survival. Her oxygen saturation levels were 80 per cent and her blood pressure was dropping rapidly. The family was counselled about ECMO and consented to the procedure,”Dr Rajat Agrawal, principal consultant and in charge, Critical Care Medicine, said .

“Over the next three to four days, she was stabilised and finally came out of the critical phase,” said The Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) circuit acts as an artificial heart and lung for the patient during ECMO therapy. It can be used in patients of all ages,” he added.

D14