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

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 Lung transplant.

Chennai: 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 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 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 May 18, 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 in another hospital.  According to Dr. KR Balakrishnan, Chairman-Cardiac Sciences Director, MGM Healthcare the patient was admitted at their hospital on July 13. “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.