Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Anaesthesiology, Zhongshan People's Hospital, Zhongshan 528403, Guangdong Province, China
  • 2 Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, London SW10 9NH, United Kingdom
  • 3 Cardiovascular Centre, Zhongshan People's Hospital, Zhongshan 528403, Guangdong Province, China
  • 4 Department of Intensive Medicine, Zhongshan People's Hospital, Zhongshan 528403, Guangdong Province, China
  • 5 Department of Hepatology, The Second People's Hospital of Zhongshan, Zhongshan 528447, Guangdong Province, China
  • 6 Laboratory Diagnosis Centre, Zhongshan People's Hospital, Zhongshan 528403, Guangdong Province, China
  • 7 Faculty of Medicine, Ewcastle University Medicine Malaysia, Johor 79200, Malaysia
  • 8 Department of Anaesthesiology, Zhongshan People's Hospital, Zhongshan 528403, Guangdong Province, China. libf@zsph.com
World J Clin Cases, 2021 Mar 16;9(8):1953-1967.
PMID: 33748247 DOI: 10.12998/wjcc.v9.i8.1953

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2, is a worldwide pandemic. Some COVID-19 patients develop severe acute respiratory distress syndrome and progress to respiratory failure. In such cases, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) treatment is a necessary life-saving procedure.

CASE SUMMARY: Two special COVID-19 cases-one full-term pregnant woman and one elderly (72-year-old) man-were treated by veno-venous (VV)-ECMO in the Second People's Hospital of Zhongshan, Zhongshan City, Guangdong Province, China. Both patients had developed refractory hypoxemia shortly after hospital admission, despite conventional support, and were therefore managed by VV-ECMO. Although both experienced multiple ECMO-related complications on top of the COVID-19 disease, their conditions improved gradually. Both patients were weaned successfully from the ECMO therapy. At the time of writing of this report, the woman has recovered completely and been discharged from hospital to home; the man remains on mechanical ventilation, due to respiratory muscle weakness and suspected lung fibrosis. As ECMO itself is associated with various complications, it is very important to understand and treat these complications to achieve optimal outcome.

CONCLUSION: VV-ECMO can provide sufficient gas exchange for COVID-19 patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome. However, it is crucial to understand and treat ECMO-related complications.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.