BHUBANESWAR: Senior doctors with years of experience in operating Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) machine, also called lung-heart bypass machine, in intensive care, have cautioned against craziness of relatives of patients to go for it as if it was the sure short to bringing back life.
The health advocates don’t discourage people from availing the advanced facilities, but given the financial implications and other medical considerations the Ecmo support involve, they appeal people and healthcare providers to be discernible.
As many as nine patients from Odisha, ever since the Covid pandemic broke out in March 2020, have been airlifted to higher centres outside in air ambulance facilities to avail of Ecmo care.
Of that in May one patient and in June, four patients are known to have shifted to Chennai and Kolkata for Ecmo.
Last year, two doctors had succumbed to post Covid infections despite being airlifted and weeks of Ecmo support despite spending to the tune of crores.
Doctors said Ecmo is a very advanced life support machine, whose use should be decided after a host of consideration.
It is not a cure, it rather provides much needed rest to the ailing organ (lungs or heart or both) and doubles up as the lungs and heart.
“Ecmo shouldn’t be used without evaluation of the patient that is done to ascertain whether he or she actually needs it.
Falling oxygen level and fibrosed lungs shouldn’t be the only yardsticks.
Once put on Ecmo, the patient’s heart and lungs functioning needs constant monitoring as both organs work in synergy.
The risk involved is also humongous if not being handled by experts having vast experience in the domain.
Apart from anti-coagulants, we have to see the patient doesn’t get secondary infections,” Dr Ranjan Joshi, head of the Paediatric Critical Care for Coronovirus Pandemic for south-Australia, told TOI.
He has over 15-year experience in operating Ecmo.
Recently a prominent educationist succumbed despite getting Ecmo facility.
Two youths, a young politician and an IPS officer are now on Ecmo support outside the state.
The relatives of two young Covid patients in their 20s generated fund through social media appeal.
Senior pulmonologist and critical care specialist Sampat Das said, “People shouldn’t rush to think it is a panacea and think that putting one on Ecmo is akin to bringing his or her life back”.
However, he said a deserving patient on Ecmo that is handled by a team of experts led by an experienced intensivist, can be the way ahead.
“The approach of the people towards critical care should change otherwise they will end up spending crores ultimately getting nil results,” Das added.