In the United States, surgeons performed a double lung transplant on a COVID-19 patient. This is a patient in her twenties whose lungs had been destroyed. Thanks to this operation, the patient is out of the woods.
Doctors at Northwestern Hospital in Chicago (USA) recently performed a double lung transplant on a Covid-19 patient. As CBS Chicago reported on June 11, 2020 (see video at the end of the article), the coronavirus had irreversibly destroyed the lungs of the patient in her twenties. Indeed, the doctors had observed no signs of recovery. Worse still, his lungs were developing end-stage fibrosis.
After seeing this irreparable damage to lung tissue , the doctors performed a double transplant. Since the appearance of Covid-19, this is the second operation of this type. In China in February 2020, doctors had already performed a double lung transplant on a patient over 70 years old.
The US surgeons gave more details about their patient. Visibly in very good health before being impacted by the Covid-19, the young woman was then seriously ill. The patient spent no less than six weeks in intensive care before the transplant. The latter was intubated via an artificial respirator and connected to an ECMO machine. Remember that this type of machine has the mission of replacing the lungs and the heart in order to ensure oxygenation and blood circulation in the body. The fact is that huge holes were present in his left lung, which favored a serious bacterial infection.
According to doctors, the operation lasted about ten hours and was very difficult. Due to the disease, the patient's lungs were "glued" to surrounding structures so that their removal was very complicated. Usually, this kind of transplant takes about six hours. Fortunately, the operation was a success despite the difficulties. This success therefore shows that this kind of transplant for Covid-19 patients is possible and effective.
Today out of the woods, the young woman is conscious but still remains on life support. This situation will continue until his recovery, which should occur in a few weeks. The doctors explained that they waited until it was negative for Covid-19 in order to receive the transplant . It was the young woman's only chance of survival. Finally, it was also recalled that such damage to the lungs for such a young person is extremely rare.
