KARIMNAGAR, APRIL 14, 2026: In a rare case, a Karimnagar-based 29-year-old woman, Moulika, was treated with highly complex and lifesaving international ECMO (Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation) and ventilator support and recovered without having to undergo any surgery or transplantation at Yashoda Hospital, Somajiguda, Hyderabad.
Disclosing this to newsmen here on Tuesday, Yashoda Hospital Critical Care Physician Dr M Kartik said that the patient was admitted at the hospital in a very critical condition requiring a very high requirement of medicine to sustain blood pressure, which happened due to septic shock, which caused her heart failure. The patient was admitted to the hospital when the critical care team, along with the Cardiothoracic department and the pulmonology team, initiated ECMO, a life-supporting machine.
Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) is being used at Yashoda Hospital Somajiguda, Hyderabad, to save the lives of critically ill patients suffering from severe heart or lung failure. It acts as a bridge to recovery, allowing organs to rest, particularly in cases involving severe respiratory distress or cardiac failure. After about six days, the patient’s heart recovered enough to work on its own again, so the machine could be removed. The doctor stated that she was diagnosed in stable condition.
Dr Kartik said that ECMO is a special life-support machine that takes blood out of the body, adds oxygen, removes waste gases, and pumps it back in, doing the job of the heart and lungs for a short time.
The machine temporarily took over the patient’s heart and lung function during a life-threatening infection, buying time for medicines to work and effectively saving her life, he said added that this kind of end-of-life support is available only in selected centres, people should know that such treatment exists and that very sick patients may need transfer to an ECMO.
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