Woman with severe COVID-19 pneumonia makes ‘rare recovery’ in Hyderabad

The patient stayed on ECMO support for 41 days.

Hyderabad: A 36-year-old lady, with severe COVID-19 pneumonia, spent 90 days in the hospital with 41 days on ECMO (Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) support made what doctors called a “rare recovery”.

On May 11, with severe respiratory distress, the patient was admitted to Hyderabad's Medicover Hospitals in Madhapur. Initially, the doctors tried to keep her on high flow oxygen support.

However, she could not tolerate it after which she was put on the ventilator. Unfortunately, despite being on the ventilator in a prone position, her oxygen levels did not improve much and the doctors had no choice but to initiate ECMO support.

She stayed on ECMO support for 41 days during which time she had lots of fluctuations in her conditions, and on some occasions, the doctors felt that she will not survive.

Multiple attempts were made to wean her off ECMO but it just failed. Over a period of time, her kidneys also got affected requiring dialysis support.

Fortunately, she started recovering and gradually the ECMO support was reduced. After 41 days, she was taken off the ECMO support and put on ventilator.

Dr Ganshyam M Jagathkar, Director, critical care department, Medicover Hospitals said, “Considering the condition in which the patient arrived and the long duration of ECMO support, it is really amazing to see the patient recovering to a full cycle. Patients on long ECMO support do not come out so easily. The multidisciplinary team of Intensivists, CT surgeons, ICU nurses, physiotherapists, and clinical nutritionists spared no effort in ensuring every possible effort in bringing her back to normalcy. The family was strongly behind the treating team and braved all obstacles.”

The patient was later on taken off the ventilator support as well. Meanwhile, her kidneys also started to recover, and she was taken off dialysis.