Doctors are puzzled: the death rate of artificially ventilated Covid-19 patients is high. Professor Clemens Wendtner from Munich has another explanation.
- The coronavirus * asks thousands of deaths
- Doctors are becoming increasingly cautious about the use of ventilators.
- Is there actually a connection between artificially ventilated patients and a higher death rate ?
- Our guide through the reporting: latest case numbers *, symptoms occurring * and possible protective measures *.
Update April 17, 2020: Is the use of ventilators actually counterproductive in the treatment of coronavirus patients? Doctors worldwide wonder whether there is a connection between a high death rate and the use of ventilators. Such observations were made in New York, but also in Great Britain and China (see first report from April 15 below) . In some cases, doctors are already using alternative treatment measures. In Germany and other countries, there was a question beforehand whether there were enough ventilators at all. In conversation with Focus Online , Professor Dr. med Clemens Wendtner on how the connection can really be interpreted.
Wendtner is a medical doctor at the Schwabing Clinic in Munich . He does not see artificial ventilation of the corona patients as a risk. Rather, the background of the high death rates is in the health care system: “The problem is: Patients in the USA are late for the clinics. Because too little has been tested for a very long time, many people notice their infection late and only go to the doctor in the final stage of Covid-19 . That is why we are currently seeing a large number of seriously ill patients in the USA. ”Ultimately, the doctors then have no other treatment option than“ to intubate and provide ventilation.
It is clear that these patients do not have a good chance of survival. "But it would be wrong for Germany to draw the conclusion from this that ventilation of Covid 19 patients would no longer be invasive," Wendtner is convinced.
Higher mortality rate with ventilators? Doctors puzzle over corona patients
First report April 15, 2020 - Munich - Whether in New York, England or China : Doctors are puzzling over a possible connection between ventilators and a higher death rate among Covid-19 infected people. As doctors from these countries report, apparently significantly more people die from the consequences of the coronavirus if they are intubated.
So was the big cry for ventilators for nothing? In the United States, for example, pressure on the government has recently increased. She was accused of not giving ventilators from the emergency reserves. The state of Washington sent 400 ventilators to the hard-hit city of New York .
Coronavirus and ventilators: Doctors suspect increasing mortality from intubation
Tesla and Dyson changed their production for the corona crisis: respiratory devices are manufactured instead of e-cars and vacuum cleaners. Clinics equipped themselves to be technically well prepared for the big wave of Sars-CoV-2 patients. But now doctors from the United States in particular want the opposite.
Experts say that patients who are connected to ventilators have a high death rate: 40 to 50 percent of intubated patients with severe respiratory distress syndromes die. This figure is even higher in corona patients. In the city of New York, 80 percent of the infected people connected to ventilators died.
Corona crisis: 80 percent of ventilated patients in New York City died
Albert Rizzo of the American Lung Association confirmed several such above-average death rates in parts of the United States. China and the UK also report numbers that support this theory: A report from London reports of 1053 intubated Covid-19 patients, only 355 survivors.
Wuhan , the city of the pandemic outbreak, gives figures from a small study. Of the 22 ventilated patients there, 19 succumbed to the consequences of the coronavirus. But where does the connection come from?
Researchers don't know. A possible reason could be the condition of the patient before the illness or at the time of connection to a ventilator. Some doctors also speculate about a possible harmful reaction of the immune system , triggered by the ventilator.
Corona crisis: Researchers disagree about ventilators
Some doctors are now trying to delay the use of ventilators for as long as possible. Measures such as the addition of nitrogen oxides or storage techniques should initially help. Patients can be placed on the stomach, for example, to better ventilate parts of the lungs.
New York emergency medical specialist Joseph Habboushe told the Associated Press news agency, " If we can make patients improve without us having to intubate them, they'll have a better chance of recovery - we suspect."
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