Lung Failure in Swine-Flu Patients May Spur Life-Support Demand

Oct. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Machines that pump blood through an artificial lung helped save dozens of critically ill swine flu patients, doctors in Australia and New Zealand found.

The finding, based on the first population-wide study of the use of lung-bypass machines in the influenza pandemic, suggests Northern Hemisphere nations can expect a winter surge in demand for life-support equipment made by companies including Getinge AB and Medtronic Inc.

The lung-bypass technique was used in 68 flu patients in both countries who developed such severe lung damage that they weren’t able to breathe, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association yesterday. Almost half of those given the procedure were able to walk out of the hospital after suffering acute respiratory distress syndrome, a condition fatal in up to 48 percent of cases.

“We have a gut feeling that these patients would have died more frequently and that we did improve the likelihood of their survival,” said Andrew Davies, deputy director of intensive care at Melbourne’s Alfred Hospital and the study’s lead author.

From June 1 to Aug. 31, the procedure was used in New Zealand and Australia on patients with confirmed or suspected swine flu at a rate of 2.6 per million people.

An additional 133 flu patients received mechanical ventilation, but not the lung-bypass procedure known as extracorporeal membrane oxygenation or ECMO. The study didn’t include a case-controlled comparison of patient outcomes in both groups.

‘Dreadfully Sick’

“They were dreadfully sick as a bunch when we put them on ECMO, and you would have thought that group of patients would have had a higher mortality,” Davies said.

The average age of patients with the new H1N1 strain who received ECMO at 15 intensive care sites in Australia and New Zealand was 34.4 years, the doctors said.

As of Sept. 7, 48 of the 68 ECMO patients had been discharged from the intensive care unit, of whom 32 had been discharged from the hospital and 16 were still hospitalized. Fourteen patients had died and six remained in the ICU, two of whom were still receiving ECMO, according to the study.

In comparison, only four patients received ECMO for acute respiratory distress syndrome across the 15 ICUs the previous winter in Australia and New Zealand. The incidence of ECMO in the three months ended Aug. 31, 2008, was 0.15 cases per million people.

As swine flu spreads in the Northern Hemisphere winter, the U.S. might expect to provide ECMO to about 800 H1N1 patients and the European Union to 1,300 patients, the authors said.



Views: 45

Comment

You need to be a member of 12160 Social Network to add comments!

Join 12160 Social Network

"Destroying the New World Order"

TOP CONTENT THIS WEEK

THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING THE SITE!

mobile page

12160.info/m

12160 Administrators

 

Latest Activity

Doc Vega posted blog posts
8 hours ago
Burbia favorited tjdavis's photo
19 hours ago
FREEDOMROX's blog post was featured
20 hours ago
cheeki kea commented on cheeki kea's blog post WHY YOU MUST UNDERSTAND AMYLOIDOSIS AND AMYLOID PLAQUES June 13, 2022
yesterday
FREEDOMROX posted a blog post
yesterday
Doc Vega commented on Doc Vega's blog post The Many Keys to Deadly Secrecy in our Government
"cheeki kea, thanks so much for your support."
yesterday
FREEDOMROX posted a blog post
Thursday
cheeki kea favorited Doc Vega's blog post The Many Keys to Deadly Secrecy in our Government
Thursday
cheeki kea commented on cheeki kea's photo
Thursday
cheeki kea posted a photo
Wednesday
cheeki kea replied to cheeki kea's discussion Tartaria
"Greetings to you John, You're right and it didn't take long for those manuals to totally…"
Wednesday
Doc Vega posted a blog post

The Many Keys to Deadly Secrecy in our Government

We now know thanks to the legislation of FOIA access to federal documents and evidence and the…See More
Wednesday
Less Prone favorited tjdavis's photo
Wednesday
Less Prone favorited rlionhearted_3's photo
Wednesday
John Miller commented on rlionhearted_3's photo
Thumbnail

Another incredibly Stupid!! What, no mirrors?

"Brutal post... not sure it’s helping anyone though."
Tuesday
John Miller replied to cheeki kea's discussion Tartaria
"Tartaria: the empire that built half the world's cathedrals, then vanished because someone…"
Tuesday
Burbia commented on rlionhearted_3's photo
Thumbnail

Another incredibly Stupid!! What, no mirrors?

"This movie portrayed plastic surgery as absurd. I guess the numbers in the real world are growing."
Tuesday
Burbia commented on tjdavis's photo
Thumbnail

Redux

"Ah yes, General Jussitri Smolletkov. Good tongzhi. Good tongzhi."
Tuesday
Doc Vega posted a blog post

Unusual Discoveries and Headlines

Archaeologists have discovered an ancient tool dated to be 6,000 years old, but even more…See More
Monday
tjdavis posted a video

Inside Texas HOMELESS HELL – Even Cops Don't Dare Step In! - Documentary

In this powerful documentary, we explore the escalating Texas homeless crisis 2025, where cities and rural areas alike are witnessing a disturbing rise in th...
Monday

© 2025   Created by truth.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service

content and site copyright 12160.info 2007-2019 - all rights reserved. unless otherwise noted