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By: Admin
ECMO, which saved lives during Covid-19 pandemic, back in action to battle adenovirus in West Bengal
KOLKATA: Extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) - an instrument that had proved to be life-saver for patients with severe breathing distress during the Covid-19 pandemic - is back in use again to save children afflicted with severe adenovirus infection. It is showing a ray of hope when several children have succumbed to acute respiratory infection (ARI) and adenovirus over the last one week in Bengal.
The machine saved the life of a five-year-old boy from New Alipore, who had acute pneumonia caused by adenovirus a month ago. While the boy was cured and sent back home, a 15-year-old girl is now recovering with ECMO support at a city private hospital. Doctors said her condition is improving.
Aryav Suman (5) had been suffering from cough and fever for around five days and developed respiratory distress at his New Alipore home. His parents rushed him to a private hospital in Tollygunge where his oxygen saturation level kept dipping despite oxygen support. The hospital then sent the boy to a corporate hospital in Mukundapur that has a paediatric intensive care unit. Despite ventilation support, the child's oxygen saturation level failed to improve. On January 30, paediatricians of the second hospital contacted the ECMO team at Medica Superspecialty Hospital that has facilities for paediatric ECMO. "The boy had severe viral pneumonia that had affected both his lungs. We put him on ECMO support immediately," said critical care and ECMO specialist, Dipanjan Chatterjee.
Viral panel test detected adenovirus along with rhinovirus infection. The boy also had streptococcus pneumonia aggravating his condition. His lungs started improving gradually under ECMO support. Doctors took him off the ECMO support after 18 days. As his saturation level kept improving, he was also taken off the oxygen support. Aryav was discharged from hospital on Wednesday night.
"During the pandemic, ECMO had rescued many patients with a success rate of about 50%. Now we have started using this technology for children with viral pneumonia. The Bengal government has started approving ECMO support for children who undergo certain surgeries like cardiac procedure under the government's scheme. We need to work on how to bring down the cost," said cardiac surgeon Kunal Sarkar, senior vice chairman of Medica, who also heads the ECMO team.
