With correct diagnosis and timely application of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) technique, the team of highly qualified doctors and nurses at the Da Nang Hospital has continuously successfully treated many difficult cases in a spectacular way, helping patients miraculously regain their lives in critical condition and reunite with their beloved families.

Doctors at the Da Nang Hospital actively deployed the ECMO technique to promptly save the patient from critical condition. Photo: LE HUNG

Among the miraculously saved cases by the team of doctors and nurses at the Da Nang Hospital in recent times, it cannot be ignored the case of patient L.H.D from Son Tra District. This was a case in which doctors and nurses saved the patient's life by performing ECMO circulatory emergency for 60 minutes.

At the end of October 2024, while repairing the corrugated iron roof, Mr. D. was electrocuted. When the ambulance arrived at the scene, Mr. D. had fallen into cardiac arrest and stopped breathing. He was transferred to the emergency room at the Da Nang Hospital. Immediately, the Intensive Care - Anti-Poison Department initiated the emergency red alert procedure for ECMO circulatory arrest.

However, upon arrival at the Intensive Care - Anti-Poison Department, the patient had acute circulatory failure, acute respiratory failure, post-circulatory arrest brain hypoxia, severe extravasation of fluid, and multiple organ damage.

The patient was treated with all modern advanced intensive resuscitation measures, including ECMO circulatory support, mechanical ventilation to support breathing, hypothermia to bring the target body temperature down to 33 degrees Celsius to protect the brain damaged by circulatory arrest, plasma exchange, continuous blood filtration, internal medicine for sedation, muscle relaxants, antibiotic therapy and vasopressors.

After more than 100 hours of intensive resuscitation, the patient's circulation was restored, VA ECMO was weaned off, and he continued to receive intensive internal medicine treatment. And after more than 10 days of treatment, the patient's breathing improved, he was weaned off the ventilator, and the endotracheal tube was removed. After a month of active treatment, the patient's health stabilized and he was discharged from the hospital.

According to Dr. Ha Son Binh, the Head of the Department of Intensive Care and Anti-Poisoning, this was a very serious case, and it seemed hopeless in the first 24 hours. However, with determination, the entire hospital used all the most modern measures of the intensive care and anti-poisoning specialty to race against the complications of the disease every hour, every minute, and finally the patient was miraculously revived from the brink of death.

Dr. Le Duc Nhan, the Director of Da Nang Hospital, said that patient D. had been in a state of circulatory arrest for nearly 60 minutes, so he was in a case of "considering ECMO intervention" due to the very low chance of survival. But the doctors were still determined to use ECMO, because the patient was too young and still had a chance of cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

“Sometimes the decision to intervene in a patient is a professional instinct of the doctor, and in this case it was the right decision. This was truly a spectacular revival, returning from the death. It is known that a patient who is resuscitated after 30 minutes of ineffective cardiopulmonary resuscitation is “considered over and a failure”. However, the case of patient D. proves that if actively, multidisciplinary, modern equipment and techniques are applied at the same time, the patient can still be brought back to life”, Dr. Nhan shared.

Previously, the pregnant woman N.T.K from Hoa Vang District was pregnant at full term, diagnosed with peripartum cardiomyopathy, low blood pressure, and a very serious condition. A consultation between the Da Nang Hospital for Women and Children and the Da Nang Hospital was quickly organised. Accordingly, the pregnant woman was assigned to have a cesarean section at the Da Nang Hospital for Women and Children, the newborn baby was monitored there and the pregnant woman was transferred to the Da Nang Hospital for further treatment.

The emergency patient was in a very critical condition, no heart beat, on ventilator, blood filtration, low blood pressure. Doctors from the Intensive Care - Anti-Poison Department performed emergency VA ECMO intervention for the patient. Throughout the 8 days of intervention, the patient's life depended entirely on the operation of the VA ECMO machine and the accompanying active resuscitation methods such as filtering and artificial ventilation.

According to the leader of the Intensive Care - Anti-Poison Department, this was an extremely critical case, the patient's heart almost stopped beating, with a high risk of blood clotting disorders, respiratory failure complications, and multiple organ damage. Therefore, during the VA ECMO process, doctors always had to closely monitor and adjust blood clotting every hour.

Fortunately, on the 8th day of VA ECMO intervention, the patient's heart began to beat and improved day by day. In the following days, the patient gradually reduced support and was successfully weaned off VA ECMO. After more than 10 days of intensive treatment, the patient was conscious, recovered and discharged from the hospital.

According to Dr. Le Duc Nhan, applying ECMO is a very important decision that must be implemented immediately because the patient has myocarditis, severe heart failure, cardiogenic shock, cardiac arrest. Therefore, in that life-and-death moment, the ECMO intervention must be performed immediately, ensuring speed and timeliness...

ECMO is an advanced medical technology that helps save the lives of millions of patients in extremely critical respiratory and heart failure situations. “The Da Nang Hospital has deployed the ECMO technique since 2017, being the 675th recognized unit in the world to deploy this technique. After nearly 10 years of implementation, the hospital has performed nearly 300 cases, an average of nearly 50 ECMO cases/year, thereby bringing a chance of life to critically ill patients”, said Dr. Le Duc Nhan.

Reporting by LE HUNG - Translating by A.THU