Why didn ’ t you try ECMO for my dad , doctor ? I feel really guilty !

It is just past midnight: This is a gloomy conversation between a patient’s son and a cardiologist in the silent waiting room, just outside the dim-lit ICU of a popular 4-star hospital in Chennai. “I am sorry to say, Mr. B., your father didn’t make it. Has succumbed to the heart attack. We have been trying to resuscitate him for the past one hour. We have done everything. We have managed to open up IRA, and 2 more critical blocks still it couldn’t help. It was a massive one. Sorry again. “Doctor, I feel very bad. What went wrong, I want to know. Doc, did you try ECMO ?,” the elder son queried “No, we didn’t” Do you have it in your hospital doctor? “No,we don’t have it” The son in distress couldn’t take it lightly. “How can you say that doctor? such a big hospital doesn’t have ECMO, “What a mistake we have done, we should have gone elsewhere” he quipped  The visibly exhausted cardiologist was taken aback and struggled to retain his composure. He took some time and tried to explain the bereaved family with a semi-scientific explanation. “Please understand the reality. Do you know, how likely an emergency ECMO will resuscitate a patient with cardiogenic shock and arrest”  ECMO is not a magic machine  that will bring back your heart to life It is a temporary circulatory support device idea...
Source: Dr.S.Venkatesan MD - Category: Cardiology Authors: Tags: Cardiology -Technology ecmo IABP impella tandem heart ecmo Source Type: blogs