365telugu.com online news, Hyderabad,December 24th,2021: Respiratory care physicians, at KIMS the country’s leading heart-lung transplant program reported the full recovery of a 12-year-old boy from northern India who was airlifted to the center for ECMO therapy for severe covid infection. The team flew on a chartered craft to evacuate this child to their base in Hyderabad. This young child had been on life support utilizing the efficiencies of a veno-venous ECMO for over 65 days. The care involved close monitoring of other organ functions, enhanced nutrition, physical rehabilitation, and advanced lung recovery manouvres while on the ECMO.
The challenge with small children is their delicate bodies. This critical COVID illness leads to multiple comorbidities, muscle weakness caused by medications used to treat the primary condition, repeated infections in the bloodstream, and secondary infections in their airways over and above dense non-resolving pneumonia. This is by far the longest reported ECMO bridge to recovery in a child for severe COVID pneumonia. Treating children with severe COVID exemplifies the all-around ability of high-quality intensive care, respiratory, and transplant team. This by far is probably the only reported case in the country of a child who was sustained on this mode of life support for over two months and has fully recovered from his infection.
“Dr. Sandeep Attawar and the transplant team at the Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) Hospitals are first among equals. The high-quality outcomes that they aspire to and achieve, time and time again, and their accomplishments demonstrate their commitment and the facilities at KIMS. added Dr.Abhinay Bollineni, Chief Executive Officer, KIMS Hospitals.
Dr Vijil Chief of Transplant Pulmonology, KIMS Heart & Lung Institute commented “ When the patient came to us his lungs were fully affected and stiff and was unable to supply oxygen to his body. With ECMO support his lung was rested and gradually healed itself and regained enough function to be able to support him. We have one of the largest and most experienced ECMO teams in the country with dedicated doctors and support staff without which such a remarkable recovery would not have been possible”
Dr B P Singh, Senior Pulmonologist & Primary Physician Midland Healthcare & Research centre, Commented “ The child with advanced covid pneumonia was shifted from our Midland Healthcare and research center Lucknow, UP to KIMS Hospital Hyderabad by the KIMS team. It is very heartening to know that the child has recovered fully and is being discharged from the hospital. It was a very satisfying effort of the combined medical team at Midland Hospital Lucknow and KIMS Hospital Hyderabad to achieve a successful outcome”
Dr Prabhat Dutta, Chief Intensivist, KIMS Heart & Lung Transplant Institute Commented “ This boy had critical illness syndrome on arrival. This also included a myopathy caused by steroids and immunomodulating therapy for severe covid. It required a herculean effort for over 2 months till he recovered well enough for ECMO discontinuation. It is really a satisfying moment for us.I thank the nursing and physiotherapy team for their untiring efforts“
Dr. Sandeep Attawar, is among the most experienced heart and lung transplant surgeons in the country. A veteran in the field of transplant surgeries with over 25-years’ experience, Dr. Attawar has to date performed over 12,000 heart surgeries and has over 350 transplant surgeries for lungs, heart, and artificial heart to his credit. In treating this patient, Dr. Attawar was supported by a team of experts and support staff members, who monitored the child round the clock for more than two months.