Unique treatment method offers hope to child with severe pulmonary hypertension

When Danny Martinez came to Boston from Florida he was very sick. At the time the young boy was suffering from severe pulmonary hypertension, a type of high blood pressure that affects the arteries in the lungs and the right side of the heart. Because Danny’s pulmonary hypertension was so serious doctors in his home state were unsure of how to save him. Along with his parents they arranged it so he could be transferred to Boston Children’s Hospital where he could receive care from the Pulmonary Hypertension Program. As one of the leading pulmonary hypertension programs in the world, Danny’s new team included cardiologists, radiologists and pulmonologists, each with a specific skill for helping children with pulmonary hypertension. After careful examination it became evident that Danny would need a lung transplant to live. However, at the time he was too critically ill to survive until the operation. To keep him alive until the surgery the Pulmonary Hypertension team devised an innovative treatment plan that would act as a bridge to lung transplant. A new approach to treatment To support his lungs, Danny was fitted with a Quadrox membrane oxygenator, a special lung-assist device that adds oxygen to the blood in the same way a healthy pair of lungs would. This device is almost always used as part of an ECMO machine, a special therapy doctors sometimes use to support a critically ill child.  But Danny only needed lung assistance, not full ECMO, so his doctors...
Source: Thrive, Children's Hospital Boston - Category: Pediatrics Authors: Tags: All posts Source Type: news