DOHA: A patient suffering from acute cholangitis (a life-threatening infection of the bile duct) has recovered due to timely intervention at Hamad General Hospital (HGH), through the special life support device Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO).
By oxygenating blood using an artificial lung outside the body, ECMO stabilises diseased or damaged lungs and provides respiratory support. It also supports healing from infection by maintaining oxygen supply to the body while resting the lungs.
Dr Ibrahim Mohamed Hassan Fawzy, Director, Medical Intensive Care Unit, HGH, spoke about the case in a multi-departmental session on the ECMO programme during Lung Health Day celebrations.
The day, which aimed to raise awareness of conditions and diseases that may affect the lungs, was organised by College of the North Atlantic-Qatar in partnership with Hamad Medical Corporation, and also addressed by Dr Nicholas Barrett, Clinical lead for Severe Respiratory Failure-ECMO, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.
“The young man was admitted to the Surgical Intensive Care Unit and managed very well. But his condition deteriorated into severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (characterised by widespread inflammation in the lungs) and he was having multi-system organ failure,” recalled Dr Fawzy.
“We had to work quickly to prevent further damage to his lungs and stop organ failure.”
Specialised training and cooperation by a multi-disciplinary team is required to perform ECMO, a complicated and risky procedure that requires removing blood directly from a large vein close to the heart.
“The operation was performed within a short time, and had a major impact on the patient. Within seven days, he recovered without any organ failure, and was discharged soon. It took us six days to wean him off the ECMO instead of the usual 10-14 days,” said Dr Fawzy.
The introduction of the ECMO programme at HMC this year was preceded by a year-long training of a multi-disciplinary team from HMC at St Thomas’ Hospital in the UK.
ECMO has been performed on four patients at HMC, with 100 percent success.
The Peninsula
