The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Vol 69, 947-953, Copyright © 1975 by The American Association for Thoracic Surgery and The Western Thoracic Surgical Association
Acute respiratory failure. Survival following ten days' support with a membrane lung
T Kolobow, EW Stool, KL Sacks and GG Vurek
An 11-year-old boy with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in remission developed
a bilateral pneumonia which rapidly progressed to acute respiratory
failure. During 9 days of intensive therapy the patient's respiratory
status progressively deteriorated. When it became impossible to maintain
the arterial oxygen tension (PAO2) above 40 mm.Hg by conventional means,
extracorporeal blood-gas exchange with a membrane lung was begun. After 5
days of bypass the patient's respiratory function began to improve, and he
was weaned from the membrane lung on the tenth day. Seven days later he was
discharged from the hospital and is currently in excellemt health 23 months
after bypass. This perfusion, the longest successful effort to provide
respiratory assist with a membrane lung, attests to the efficacy of this
therapeutic modality.