Göran on a new treatment: improved in a few days

Göran van den Brink was already in the risk group. In early November, he underwent surgery for a tumor, the size of a tennis ball, that was between his lungs.

So when his wife received the crown a few weeks later, he did everything he could to protect himself.

But it does not work.

– First I had to cough for three days. Then fever. At first I was wondering if it was really a crown or if it was a reaction after my surgery, he says.

Soon after, he went to the Karolinska University Hospital. They took a crown sample and sent it for an X-ray.

Göran was immediately admitted.

– I was admitted to a regular room, which had been converted into a covid room. It can be said that it was level 1, where patients enter observation.

The fever rose

Göran’s condition worsened. His fever rose to more than 40 degrees, he was out of breath, and his blood oxygen saturation dropped. Oxygen was added.

Göran was transferred to a new department and then to another. It ended up at IMA, the department before VAT. The respiratory problems got worse.

– Then I got a high pressure mask that you put over your nose and mouth. It closes completely hermetically and presses a mixture of oxygen and air into the lungs. It was the most disgusting thing I have ever done in my entire life. I was completely exhausted. The treatment was worse than the illness, so I felt, “Please put me to sleep, put me on a respirator so I can avoid.”

But it would improve.

Göran received a request from his doctor, Anders Kjellberg, if he wanted to participate in a new clinical study at the Karolinska Institutet and a new treatment.

He said yes.

“Now I can celebrate Lucia at home”

In summary, the study aims to see if treatment with pure oxygen in a pressure chamber, which corresponds to a pressure of 14 meters under water, can reduce inflammation in the lungs of patients with covid 19, and thus reduce the need for VAT income and a respirator. .

Göran describes how he immediately noticed a difference. He says he was told to lie down in the pressure chamber and stay there for an hour, with a five-minute break after 30 minutes. The reason is that it can be risky to be exposed to 100 percent oxygen for too long.

– When I was in that house, it was like going to heaven. It was an absolutely fantastic experience and I was able to speak as usual.

Göran underwent five treatments in a total of seven days. When he talks to Expressen on Friday, he says that he will probably be discharged from the hospital on Saturday.

In total, it was two weeks at the Karolinska University Hospital.

– Everything has completely changed. I quickly improved a lot and was able to move on to the first department after a while, where I started. And they gradually decreased oxygen and now I don’t need oxygen at all, he says.

– Now I can celebrate Lucia at home, instead of Christmas in VAT. It feels pretty good.

The doctor: “Unbelievably rewarding”

Göran is careful to point out that the treatment was part of a clinical study, and that it has not yet been established that he was the one who helped him.

– It may still have been a coincidence, although I don’t think so. But this is not known until the study is completed.

– But I feel incredibly privileged to have received world-class care at Karolinska. Everyone here does a fantastic job and the staff work like animals and work very long shifts.

Anders Kjellberg, the doctor leading the study, views the test positively. This summer, two patients had to try the treatment at Karlskrona, but this was the first time he was allowed to run it.

– It is incredibly gratifying to have seen this with my own eyes. This case means that now I know that we can do this study in Karolinska in a good and safe way, he says.

– We now have exactly two patients who were enrolled in the study. I’ll talk to them again on Saturday and check that they meet all the criteria.

For the study, the doctor is looking for people who are moderately ill with COVID-19 and who are hospitalized on oxygen. You must also have at least two risk factors for needing IVA care. However, you should not be pregnant or suffer from severe carbon monoxide, as treatment can damage the lungs.

Those who fit in and who choose to join are randomly divided into two groups. One is treated in the pressure chamber, while the other becomes a control group, to assess whether the treatment is working.

– We hope we can show that we can really prevent admission to IVA with this treatment, and that those who enter do it better, that fewer people die, says Anders Kjellberg.

The treatment has previously been tested in studies in the United States, among others, and there the patients followed the same pattern as the first in Stockholm. They showed improvement after the first treatment, a clear improvement after the third, and after the fifth, several were able to leave the hospital.