Some patients were also originally considered candidates for a lung transplant and were able to return home without their need, said Dr. John A. Snyder, a lung transplant surgeon at the University of Florida. Said Tiago Noguchi Machuka.
He treated patients on ventilators and ECMO machines – devices that inject oxygen into the bloodstream and remove carbon dioxide – which provided them with life support and breathing. His team keeps such patients on ECMO machines, but tries to take off the ventilator to restore the ability to breathe, he said.
One patient was about to go home soon. “We brought him here thinking he would really need a transplant,” said Dr. Machuka said. “And he recovered.”
Doctors do not yet know how long it will take for patients to regain pre-covid strength and endurance. In the case of acute respiratory distress syndrome or ARDS, which is caused by another virus and bears a resemblance to Covid-19, full recovery may take up to a year, but there are no such statistics for Covid yet.
However, the earlier patients begin their rehabilitation, the faster they begin to bounce back, which may be another reason for doctors to take them off the ventilator early, M.S. Al Chikhni said. It is possible, especially as scientists understand how to better manage the acute infection phase.
Doctors at Mount Sinai found that the covid could not break the blood vessels of the lungs, but instead made the blood flow too fast to absorb oxygen, leading to hypoxemia or low levels of oxygen in the blood or hypoxemia. Duplicator Human Poor, Pulmonologist and Mt. The Sinai paper, said more research was needed to identify efficient ways to reduce covid-induced hypoxemia in patients.
Some people who have spent a long time on life support may recover, although they will need great help and diligence. “Stay active, walk and walk around the house, go up and down the stairs,” Ms. Al Chikhni said.
