Life support helped many critically ill Covid-19 patients survive: Study

 

According to a new international study, the life-support option known as ECMO appears to be saving lives for many of the critically ill Covid-19 patients.

According to a new international study, the life-support option known as ECMO appears to be saving lives for many of the critically ill COVID-19 patients.

The 1,035 patients in the study faced a staggeringly high risk of death, as ventilators and other care failed to support their lungs. But after they were placed on ECMO, their actual death rate was less than 40%. That's similar to the rate for patients treated with ECMO in past outbreaks of lung-damaging viruses, and other severe forms of viral pneumonia.

The new study published in The Lancet provides strong support for the use of ECMO - short for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation -- in appropriate patients as the pandemic rages on worldwide.

It may help more hospitals that have ECMO capability understand which of their COVID-19 patients might benefit from the technique, which channels blood out of the body and into a circuit of equipment that adds oxygen directly to the blood before pumping it back into regular circulation. Small studies published early in the pandemic had cast doubt on the technique's usefulness.

Still, the international team of authors cautions that patients who show signs of needing advanced life support should receive it at hospitals with experienced ECMO teams and that hospitals shouldn't try to add ECMO capability mid-pandemic.