On February 11, a critically ill COVID-19 patient was dying as her condition worsened. The Jingzhou Central Hospital used the extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) support technique to successfully save this patient. In the past 12 days, this patient had stable vital signs, and was tested negative twice in the nucleic acid testing. She will be discharged when her lungs recover.

On February 11, the condition of a 67-year-old female patient surnamed Yang in the quarantine ward area of Jingzhou Central Hospital deteriorated, leading to severe hypoxia, who required more efficient treatment.

“At that time, we decided to operate tracheal intubation and invasive ventilation for this patient,” said Qian Haiyun, deputy head of cardiothoracic surgery of the hospital.

A series of rescue operations, such as deep vein catheterization, tracheal intubation and invasive ventilation, were completed quickly. However, the patient's condition was not improved. As the patient was dying, the medical team immediately decided to use ECMO.

“Lungs are the most important organ of the human body, but this patient's lungs could hardly work,” Qian noted. “If there was no ECMO, she would die soon.”

The principle of ECMO is that venous blood is drawn out of the body, and then injected into the patient's artery or vein system after being oxygenated by a special material, cardiopulmonary bypass, so as to partially achieve cardiopulmonary replacement, and maintain the oxygenated blood supply of human organs and tissues. However, the ECMO intubation is an extremely dangerous operation, and operators are at a very high risk of exposure and infection.

“When performing ECMO intubation, a lot of aerosols will arise, so the largest challenge is that it is very hard to meticulously operate in protective suits,” said Liao Yao, head nurse of the hospital's cardiothoracic intensive care unit (CICU).

To ensure the accuracy, medical care personnel will bend down during the operation, and if they still can’t see clearly, they will squat down to draw closer.

“Using various kinds of light sources will be helpful to our observation and operation,” Liao noted.

After the operation succeeds, doctors and nurses still need to offer 24-hour careful nursing.

“The longer the intubation takes, the higher risk of infections the patient will take, so the best way is to perform it meticulously,” Liao Yao added.

Through 12 days of treatment, the patient's vital signs are stable and has been tested negative twice in the nucleic acid testing. When her lungs recover, she will be cured and discharged. Yang has also become the first COVID-19 patient in Jingzhou who was saved by ECMO.