Arizona physician Karl Viddal came down with an extreme case of thecoronavirus in March, and doctors gave him a 100% chance of dying.- But after receiving a last-ditch treatment on a special ventilator, Viddal made a dramatic recovery and was discharged last Friday.
- For more than two weeks, Viddal was hooked up to an "extracorporeal membrane oxygenation" (ECMO) machine, which acts as an artificial lung and heart for the body.
- The ECMO machine is more commonly used for patients awaiting a lung transplant. It is not commonly used because it has huge risks, and only a limited number of hospitals have an ECMO program.
- A nonprofit health organization is now studying the ECMO's use for coronavirus patients.
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Medical professionals are looking into whether a special ventilator typically used on patients awaiting lung transplants can be a key to treating serious coronavirus cases, after a doctor in Arizona made a dramatic recovery after spending 16 days hooked up to the machine.
Karl Viddal, a family-practice physician with no underlying conditions, developed a cough and started experiencing fatigue and shortness of breath after returning from a trip to Colombia in March, according to a press release from Dignity Health, the hospital group that treated him.
By March 22, his condition deteriorated and he checked himself into the emergency room at Dignity Health Mercy Gilbert Medical Center.
The virus was "so deep in his lungs" at that point that it didn't even show up on a nasal cavity coronavirus test, and he was only diagnosed with the disease after doctors took a sample of his lungs.
Viddal quickly became so sick that he was put on a ventilator, and doctors gave him a 100% chance of dying, describing him as one of the sickest coronavirus patients in the country.
As a last-ditch effort, Viddal was put onto another type of ventilator called an ECMO, which stands for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.
The key difference between a traditional ventilator and an ECMO is that while the former aids the lungs, the latter basically serves as an artificial lung and heart.
On an ECMO, plastic tubes are hooked up to a patient's veins and arteries, according to the American Thoracic Society. Blood is pumped into an artificial lung that adds oxygen to the blood and filters out carbon dioxide before being pumped back into the body.
This gives the lungs a break and time to recover. One of its more common uses is for patients awaiting a lung transplant.
Because the machine raises the risk of kidney failure, stroke, and internal bleeding, it's not commonly used, and according to NBC News, only a limited number of hospitals have an ECMO program.
"About half the patients that go on ECMO will not survive. We only put patients on ECMO if their chance of survival is close to zero," said Dr. Ross Bremner, Executive Director of Norton Thoracic Institute at St. Joseph's, according to Fox10 Phoenix.
But the fact that it helped so much with Viddal's case is causing hope for its potential use of treating serious coronavirus patients in the future.
The Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO), a nonprofit focused on developing new therapies for organ failure, is now conducting a study of the machine's use to treat the coronavirus, in conjunction with IBM and Amazon.
"We'll see how this plays out. Everyone is studying this thoroughly. We'll see if it should be last ditch or if you start recommending people go on it earlier for better outcomes," Christine Stead, the interim CEO of the organization, told NBC
Viddal was the 32nd coronavirus patient in the country to receive ECMO treatment. So far, it has a success rate of 49%, according to data released by ELSO.
In total, Viddal spent 55 days in the hospital — 34 on a ventilator, 28 in a medically-induced coma, and 16 days on an ECMO.
He was discharged last Friday after less than two weeks in physical therapy, regaining his strength after coming off the ECMO.
Workers at the hospital lined the corridors to clap for Viddal as he checked out, and he was then greeted with hugs and balloons from his wife and three children. Viddal's wife came down with a less severe case of the coronavirus and took care of the kids while her husband was in the hospital.
Viddal says his story should be a testament to the fact that the coronavirus doesn't just severely affect the old and those with underlying conditions. With Arizona's stay-at-home order expiring on Friday, he pleaded with state residents to continue social distancing in public.
"I have never been sick in my life, really. I have no past medical conditions," Viddal told Arizona Central.
"Some people get lucky and get cold or flu symptoms at worse. But this is a virus that will kill you. We don't know who that will affect," Viddal added.
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