Miracle! Critical COVID-19 patients recover after months on ECMO support

In two separate instances, patients who suffered from COVID-19 and related lung complications miraculously recovered, after being on ECMO support for a few months. Doctors are of the opinion that patients’ recovery after such a prolonged ECMO procedure is very rare, as ECMO is recommended only for a duration of a few hours or a couple of days to prepare for a lung transplant. Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO), is a procedure that pumps and oxygenates a patient's blood outside the body, thus, allowing the heart and lungs to rest.

At the MGM Hospital in the city, a 32-year-old COVID-infected patient was on ECMO support for a period of 72 days. Doctors say that it is perhaps the longest in the country. The patient had contracted COVID-19 on 18th May, following which he had suffered severe lung damage and a host of health issues such as  ENT, bleeding, seizures etc. Doctors said that he was put on ECMO in the first week of June and underwent tracheostomy in the second week of June, while admitted to another hospital. 

According to Dr KR Balakrishnan, Chairman-Cardiac Sciences Director, MGM Healthcare the patient was admitted to their hospital on July 13th. “He was brought to us with 100% involvement of the lungs and we decided to continue ECMO support to stabilize his health condition. The team then worked on settling his health issues one by one” he said. 

Dr Suresh Rao, Institute of Heart and Lung Transplant, MGM added that patients who are induced artificial support for long periods experience substantial variations. “The body loses considerable immunity and there is always a higher risk of infection with the patient experiencing other health issues as well. The chances of recovery reduce a lot in such cases.  By supporting him on ECMO, we could rest his lungs so that it could heal and start functioning” he said. 

According to the doctors, the patient had responded positively to the treatment and his vitals are currently stable.

At the Rela hospital, a 56-year old COVID-19 patient had a similar miraculous recovery from his seriously deteriorated condition. According to Doctors, Mr Mudijja had tested positive in April end and developed breathing difficulties early on and had moderate COVID-19 pneumonia. They said that he had a 92% oxygen saturation level(Sp02) in room air and that on his condition worsening, he required 15 litres of oxygen per minute. The Heart and Lung Team led by Dr C Arumugam, Senior Consultant, Heart and Lung Transplant Surgeon decided to move into ECMO and follow a method known as V-V ECMO.

According to  Dr C Arumugam, after having been on ECMO for 50 days, the patient started improving and showed better lung performance, following which they decided to treat him without a lung transplant. “On the 54th day of ECMO support, CT scan showed improvement and we gradually reduced the ECMO support and 62 days into ECMO, the patient was taken off ECMO. We kept him on minimal ventilator support with tracheotomy for another two weeks and weaned him off the ventilator by July end” he said. 

Prof Mohamed Rela, Chairman & MD, Rela Hospital said that ECMO had traditionally been used as an intermittent arrangement until Lung Transplantation and highlighted how the team fo doctors made it a life-saving procedure. “With the 3rd wave around the corner and the public still unvaccinated, the ECMO machine is a critical tool the healthcare fraternity shall depend upon” he added.