Advanced medical interventions such as Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) has emerged as a crucial lifeline, saving lives in the battle against life-threatening respiratory illnesses, according to doctors here.
Recently, Manipal Hospital in Mysuru treated severe lung infection (H1N1 viral pneumonia) in a 41-year-old woman. A team of doctors including Dr. Upendra Shenoy, consultant – Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery, Dr. Lakshmi Narasimhan, consultant – Pulmonologist, Dr. Mahadev K, consultant – ICU and Critical Care, and Dr. Keshavamurthy C.B., consultant – Interventional Cardiology, carried out the treatment.
At a press conference here on Tuesday, Dr. Shenoy said “ECMO is a complex system that needs the collective efforts of a skilled team of doctors - intensive care (Intensivists), pulmonology, cardiology, cardiac surgery - and an efficient support team in terms of technicians and trained nurses. It is the cardiac surgeons who put the patient on the heart-lung machine. From there on, it is the perfusionist and the intensivist who monitor the case under close supervision of the pulmonologist.”
While ECMO may seem like a drastic measure, it becomes necessary when conventional treatments fail to sustain adequate oxygen levels. In Ms. Rashmi’s case, the doctors emphasised the crucial role of early detection and prompt use of ECMO in severe respiratory infections to save lives. When conventional treatments fail to maintain adequate oxygen levels, lung destruction is considerable and ventilation alone is not enough, ECMO appears as a beacon of hope, offering a chance for recovery and survival, a release said.
