Mysore:  A rare and a life-saving procedure was successfully performed on a patient at Apollo BGS Hospitals, Mysuru, which saved her from death.

The life-saving procedure known as Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) was performed by the Pulmonology team led by Dr. K. Madhu, Cardiology team led by Dr. Nagendra Prakash, Intensivists team led by Dr. Harish Nayak and Dr. Ramakrishna along with trained and experienced nurses.

A 36-year-old lady from Malavalli village had come to the hospital with severe cough, fever and breathing difficulties and her symptoms were progressively increasing. She was managed in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) with high flow oxygen, injectable antibiotics and special medications to bring down the symptoms. She was then put on prone ventilation.

When she did not respond, a novel technology called ECMO was performed on the patient. This is a sophisticated machine which acts like an artificial lung and performs the work of lungs (which is to provide fresh oxygen to blood and removal of carbon-di-oxide from blood).

“ECMO may be understood as dialysis for the lungs, as the machine acts like an artificial lung. ECMO provides rest to the lungs to recover from the illness. ECMO machine provides oxygenation outside the body, unlike in ventilator where the oxygenation is done within the body,” said Dr. Madhu, Consultant Pulmonologist, Apollo BGS Hospitals, Mysuru.

“ECMO ventilation attachment was achieved with the help from cardiology team. We inserted various tubes required to carry blood into and out of the ECMO machine, and perfusionists monitored the patient’s oxygenation round the clock,” says Dr. Nagendra Prakash, Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon, Apollo BGS Hospitals, Mysuru.

Dr. Harish Nayak and Dr. Ramakrishna, Consultant Intensivists, Apollo BGS Hospitals, said that the patient started to improve after about 15 days, with strict vigil and prompt intervention by the team of doctors, intensivists, paramedics and nurses.

Patient’s husband Venkatesh said that his wife is now fully recovered and is ready to lead a healthy life. He thanked the doctors for providing the ECMO procedure.

“This is a first of its kind procedure in Mysuru which has been successfully performed with the in-house team of pulmonologists, cardiac surgeons, intensivists, respiratory therapists and the nurses. With increasing trends of influenza every year, and with the threat of swine flu causing complications such as in this case, Mysuru now has a full-fledged facility at Apollo BGS Hospitals to treat such cases using ECMO, which was previously only possible in Metro cities,” says N.G. Bharateesha Reddy, Vice-President & Unit Head, Apollo BGS Hospitals, Mysuru.