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The severity of this season?s H1N1 flu has put a local medical team into overdrive.
The team from the University of Arizona Medical Center has placed nine H1N1 flu patients on an external lung called ECMO ? extracorporeal membrane oxygenation ? since December.
They?ve traveled as far as Flagstaff and Cottonwood with one of the hospital?s ECMO machines to treat the patients, who have ranged in age from 34 to 60. The median age of the patients was 40.
Six of the H1N1 patients have lived and three have died, which is actually a good outcome for people who have been on ECMO. The machine is considered a last-ditch attempt to save the life of someone in respiratory distress. The machine doesn?t fix anything. Rather, it buys patients time while ideally their bodies heal themselves, or medication takes effect.
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The team from the University of Arizona Medical Center has placed nine H1N1 flu patients on an external lung called ECMO ? extracorporeal membrane oxygenation ? since December.
They?ve traveled as far as Flagstaff and Cottonwood with one of the hospital?s ECMO machines to treat the patients, who have ranged in age from 34 to 60. The median age of the patients was 40.
Six of the H1N1 patients have lived and three have died, which is actually a good outcome for people who have been on ECMO. The machine is considered a last-ditch attempt to save the life of someone in respiratory distress. The machine doesn?t fix anything. Rather, it buys patients time while ideally their bodies heal themselves, or medication takes effect.
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