Dubai: A patient who was suffering from severe pneumonia and was placed on ventilator well in time was able to completely recover because of the quick thinking by doctors at Burjeel Hospital, Abu Dhabi, last month.
S.W., the 44-year-old Lebanese national, who initially thought he was suffering from influenza, was admitted to Burjeel Hospital complaining of shortness of breath, fever and sever cough.
Describing his condition, S.W. said: “I couldn’t breathe. I felt extremely nauseous and dizzy. Time seemed to slow down with every breath I took as I struggled to fill my lungs with air. I literally felt like I was drowning. I felt helpless.”
He was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) and put on oxygen therapy initially which later was escalated to non-invasive mechanical ventilation, followed by invasive mechanical ventilation.
The doctors described his condition as severe pneumonia. Pneumonia is an infection of the lungs, which causes the air sacs to fill up with fluid making it difficult for a person to breathe. In a study published by the US National Library of Medicine – National Institute of Health, pneumonia has a 13 per cent mortality rate and adults are very prone to this respiratory disease in the UAE. If caused by bacteria or fungi, pneumonia can be treated with antibiotics; viral pneumonia cannot be treated with medicines.
Dr Nehad Nabil Halawa, anaesthesia specialist and deputy medical director at Burjeel Hospital, said: “We decided to place the patient on the ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) machine — an artificial lung machine. S.W.’s was a critical pulmonary condition and time was of essence.”
Dr Halawa added: “Pneumonia is very difficult to diagnose and is often either misdiagnosed or diagnosed too late. When the general procedure at the ICU did not give desired results, it became clear that the patient had pneumonia, so we took immediate action to place him on ECMO. We needed to relieve his lung and pump oxygen into his blood.”
The ECMO machine mimics a normal functioning lung allowing for gas exchange by adding oxygen and removing carbon dioxide. “If not managed and handled well, cases like these may put a patient at high risk such as bleeding, pump failure, clotting of blood,” elaborated Dr Halawa.
In less than a week, S. W’s chest X-ray showed a remarkable improvement in his lungs and his overall condition and he was able to go home and resume his normal life.
