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Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,970
Registered: ‎03-16-2010

Re: pitdakota, have you heard/read anything . . .

@Drythe, totally agree.....give me a CPAP any day.  lol  And yes, it does leave a trail.  Will be interesting to follow recovery and see what lingering problems occur.

 

I have a cousin that was hospitalized with covid back in late Feb. and discharged in mid-March.  Chest x-ray done yesterday still showed RLL pneumonia.  Still having trouble with fatigue and shortness of air with activity.  

 

By the way, I don't know a thing about pets, but by your statement they evidently do ECMO in canines?  See, I like learning about other things as well.  


* Freedom has a taste the protected will never know *
Honored Contributor
Posts: 13,775
Registered: ‎07-09-2011

Re: pitdakota, have you heard/read anything . . .


@pitdakota wrote:

@Drythe, totally agree.....give me a CPAP any day.  lol  And yes, it does leave a trail.  Will be interesting to follow recovery and see what lingering problems occur.

 

I have a cousin that was hospitalized with covid back in late Feb. and discharged in mid-March.  Chest x-ray done yesterday still showed RLL pneumonia.  Still having trouble with fatigue and shortness of air with activity.  

 

By the way, I don't know a thing about pets, but by your statement they evidently do ECMO in canines?  See, I like learning about other things as well.  


@pitdakota 

 

Sadly, it was research.  😞☹️😞

"Animals are not my whole world, but they have made my world whole" ~ Roger Caras
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Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,458
Registered: ‎06-10-2015

Re: pitdakota, have you heard/read anything . . .


@pitdakota wrote:

@noodleann, and I love that you find reading and learning fascinating!  

 

The issue of silent hypoxia in covid patients is interesting and frustrating at the same time.  Yes, there are docs out there with hypotheses that red blood cells are being directly attacked by the virus might help explain the silent hypoxia.  Problem is they can't provide microbiological evidence that is exactly what is actually happening.  At least to date.   That might change though in time.

 

There are further questions about that theory in that they have used extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).  ECMO is something like a heart lung bypass process they use during open heart surgery.  They put  catheters into both a major artery and major vein.   All of the blood is routed through the machine that functions to oxygenate the blood and then returns it back to the body to circulate. 

 

When they use this process, oxygen saturation does improve.  And patients have successfully recovered.  So that begs the question that  if ECMO can be effective in these severely hypoxic patients with red blood cells being able to transport the oxygen why would it be that the problem resides in a problem with the virus attacking the red blood cell to interfere with its ability to transport oxygen.

 

There are different thoughts out there as to when to place a patient on a ventilator, quite different from the standards in the past with other respiratory situations.  I think most have learned to let ABG results get to a level they never would have in the past before resorting to intubation and placing the patient on a ventilator.  One thing in the article that is heard by all doctors and nurses out there working with covid patients though is that they have never seen anything like this.  Quite a sobering statement that is universal among health care providers all across the country taking care of covid patients.

 

No doubt there is still quite a bit about this virus they don't know.  What is clear from this point in time though is that covid does present as a respiratory virus but it is anything but just primarily a respiratory disease.  It has neurological, cardiovascular, renal, and clotting involvement associated with infection.  And we are now starting to see that recovery for some is problematic as well.  And still much more to learn and current thinking evolving as they continue.  

 

I will provide a picture of a patient receiving ECMO since it may a new concept you may not have heard about.  It is kind of difficult to actually see the patient because of all the equipment.  But the person in the picture is receiving ECMO

 

image.png

 

So the ECMO really functions as artifical lungs if you will to provide oxygen to the blood as it circulates through this process and then is returned back into the patient. 

 

 

 

 


@pitdakota , thank you for all this incredible information. "So that begs the question that  if ECMO can be effective in these severely hypoxic patients with red blood cells being able to transport the oxygen why would it be that the problem resides in a problem with the virus attacking the red blood cell to interfere with its ability to transport oxygen." Great point, one it would have taken me a year and much more reading to think of.

 

I was sidetracked today with a lot of pesky matters, but did have a chance to read more on Medscape. I saw a discussion about CPAP devices being used for treatment, which brought back an early (probably March) memory of this having been raised.

 

It's fascinating reading, but I'm aware of how abstract it is compared to dealing with the realities of the virus day after day. I do not know how you all do it.

 

Thanks again for your help. I'll keep reading.