Coronavirus: ECMO device helps severely ill woman

A young woman in an intensive care unit, suffering from severe pneumonia due to Covid-19, was successfully treated via extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), the health ministry announced on Wednesday.

“This method… was used for the first time in Cyprus,” said Marios Loizou, scientific director of state health services (Okypy).

He detailed that such treatment is used when there is severe respiratory failure and it attempts to replace lung function.

ECMO is used to support patients whose heart and lungs are unable to carry out their full functions.

The device keeps a person’s heart pumping and blood oxygenated without it going through their lungs. It allows oxygenation of red blood cells and the removal of carbon dioxide.

The patient, despite still being intubated, is now in the process of being taken off the device.

“We hope that she continues to improve,” he said.