ECMO procedure saves life of 9-month-old infected with COVID-19 in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: A 9-month-old child infected with COVID-19 recovered after being on ECMO (Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) for 12 days at a private hospital in Hyderabad.

The child, Shreeyash from Adilabad district in Telangana, was brought to KIMS Cuddles, Kondapur, Hyderabad, with fever, cough and breathing difficulty which progressed rapidly needing ICU admission and ventilator support.

Even with that his condition continued to deteriorate and was put highest ventilator (HFOV) support. In addition, the child developed air leak from the lungs (pneumothorax) which made ventilator treatment more difficult.

At this point, ECMO support was initiated which saved the life of the child.

“This is the first ECMO in India for children with COVID-19 disease. Though many children are affected with COVID-19 disease, it is asymptomatic to mild disease in majority with only minority of children needing hospitalization and ICU treatment. Among children needing ICU very few get worse to the extent of needing ECMO. It is also being considered in post COVID-19 multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C) which is mostly seen in children where heart function is poor,” said Dr Nanda Kishore, Senior Paediatric Consultant, KIMS Hospitals.

In a big relief to his parents and the doctors, Shreeyash came off ECMO after 12 days and off ventilator support after further three days. The child was discharged home after one month of hospital stay.