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22-month-old child in Odisha undergoes lung washing procedure at AIIMS
The girl from Dhenkanal district had contracted Covid-19 along with other family members in June this year and recovered. In July, she developed fever with breathing difficulty, following which she was admitted to various hospitals of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar.
A 22-month-old girl from Odisha has become the youngest patient in the country to successfully undergo a lung washing procedure after she was diagnosed with a rare disease in which milk-like material get deposited in the lungs making respiration difficult.
The girl from Dhenkanal district had contracted Covid-19 along with other family members in June this year and recovered. In July, she developed fever with breathing difficulty, following which she was admitted to various hospitals of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar. However, as the child’s condition did not improve, she was finally referred to the Paediatrics department of AIIMS Bhubaneswar and later admitted to the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit of the hospital.
Director of AIIMS, Dr Gitanjali Batmanbane said after investigations, she was suspected to be suffering from pulmonary alveolar proteinosis, a rare disease in which milk-like materials get deposited in both the lungs, which the child cannot cough out.
“The only available treatment option for this disease is washing both lungs with saline, which is technically challenging in such a sick child. So, an expert team of doctors was formed and the child was put on ECMO. The team of doctors aided by senior residents and nursing officers did the entire procedure on August 30 and a second procedure on September 12, which improved her condition further. On Saturday, she was discharged with a small minimal oxygen requirement,” said Dr Batmanbane.
The expert team included paediatricians Dr Krishna Mohan Gulla, Dr Rashmi Ranjan Das, Dr Amit Kumar Satapathy, paediatric surgeon Dr. Manoj Mohanty and his team, Anaesthesia specialists Dr Satyajit Mishra, Dr Bikram Kishore Behera and cardio-thoracic surgeon Dr Sidharth Kumar Sathia and Dr Satyapriya Mohanty,” said the director.
Paediatrician Dr Gulla said when the baby was admitted to the hospital about one and a half months ago, she was breathing heavily and needed 15 to 20 litres of oxygen. Her oxygen saturation level was 70 to 80 per cent.
“As the baby was found suffering from Pulmonary Alveolar Proteinosis, surfactant protein was getting deposited in her lungs. We had to wash both her lungs with saltwater and put her on ECMO support for 26 hours. The second lung washing was carried out about 5 to 6 days ago without ECMO support. After that her condition improved. On Saturday, she was discharged with 1-2 litres of oxygen support as he oxygen saturation level was 97 to 98 per cent,” said Dr Gull, adding that the child’s condition is likely to be a genetic one. “The child’s lungs needs to undergo regular washing. We hope the child may not need ECMO in future as the condition of her lungs is better,” he said.
