Ecmo after corona infection: More than half die despite artificial ventilation

Created: 03/17/2022, 13:53

By: Natalie Hull Drawbar

Corona patients with a severe course often have to be artificially ventilated.

In Germany, however, 77 percent of intensive care patients die, according to the study.

Frankfurt – Especially at the beginning of the pandemic with the Alpha and Delta variants, clinics in Germany recorded high utilization in the intensive care units.

Doctors and nurses worked on the attack to care for the previously unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated corona patients.

In February 2022, the hospitals again recorded more corona patients (2349) in the intensive care units, despite the falling number of cases.

For comparison: In the winter of 2020/2021, there were 5,800 intensive care patients, more than twice as many.

Ecmo after corona infection: More than half die despite artificial ventilation

Infection with the coronavirus can damage the lungs and destroy lung tissue.

This usually happens with severe courses of Covid-19, less so with mild ones*.

In many of those severely affected by Covid-19, the lung function has to be artificially supported or taken over.

This is done using the so-called Ecmo method.

With the so-called extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), the patient is connected to a device that works like an artificial lung and at times even completely takes over the respiratory function of the intensive care patient.

In the Ecmo procedure, trained intensive care staff insert two cannulas into the largest veins in the body.

The patient's blood is fed out via one cannula in order to artificially enable gas exchange in the Ecmo device.

The blood is enriched with oxygen and carbon dioxide is released at the same time.

The oxygen-rich blood is fed back into the body using a second cannula.

Ecmo after corona infection: around three quarters of those over 60 do not survive

More than half of the intensive care patients in Germany die despite artificial ventilation.

(Iconic image) © Florian Bachmeier/Imago

In an international comparison, significantly more older people died in Germany after Ecmo treatment.

This is the result of a study that was published in February 2022 in the "European Journal of Anaesthesiology".

With the help of the study created by a research team from the University Hospital Frankfurt, the data from German hospitals was evaluated between January 2020 and the end of September 2021.

The researchers led by Benjamin Friedrichson, intensive care and emergency physician at the Frankfurt Clinic, examined the 4279 Ecmo treatments of all affected Covid 19 patients.

Ecmo treatment for severe corona courses requires more experience

According to the study, around 77 percent of those over 60 died after Ecmo treatment.

"The doctors in this country don't make bad medicine, and Ecmo is a wonderful therapy that we don't want to do without," said Friedrichson, according to the dpa news agency.

Nevertheless, the numbers are unacceptable and scare the experts.

In general, it takes a lot of experience and expertise to significantly minimize the mortality rate of Ecmo patients.

Because even now, patients with booster vaccinations have to be treated intensively*.

However, the experts also assume that the remaining 23 percent of older corona patients would have died without the Ecmo treatment.

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Ecmo in severe lung failure: The risk of death increases with age

A comparison shows that international publications on specialized lung centers abroad show significantly better survival rates.

Depending on the study, “only” between 37 and 53 percent of corona patients with severe lung failure died.

However, those treated were younger on average.

The risk of a fatal Covid 19 course increases with age.

It cannot be ruled out that the Ecmo process was used more for younger people in other countries than in Germany.

And the younger corona patients were usually more likely to survive.

*

This article only contains general information on the respective health topic and is therefore not intended for self-diagnosis, treatment or medication.

In no way does it replace a visit to the doctor.

Unfortunately, our editors are not allowed to answer individual questions about clinical pictures.