Doctors at a local hospital lauded the "miraculous" recovery of a man, who spent a record 117 days on ECMO therapy and will be leaving hospital in time to spend Lunar New Year with his family.
ECMO, or Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation, oxygenates blood and removes carbon dioxide from patients whose cardio-pulmonary systems have ceased to function normally.
While the use of ECMOs is relatively common, what made the case unusual was the fact that the patient was kept alive by the system -- usually reserved for short-term life-support measured in days -- for almost four months, doctors at National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH) said.
PHOTO: CHEN TSE-MING, TAIPEI TIMES
After nearly drowning on July 22 last year, the 26-year-old man surnamed Hu (
"You can see on the X-rays that both sides of his lungs had turned opaque, which means they were permeated with water," said Tsai Keh-sung (
Hu's lung almost completely ceased to function at one point, making it necessary for him to be hooked up to two ECMO machines at the same time.
"The fact that he recovered is something of a miracle," said Lee Yung-chie (
Wang Chih-hsien (王植賢), one of the specialists who tended to Hu, said he estimated the hospital incurred costs of NT$2.5 million on Hu's care in the first month alone.
"The first month is the most expensive as he had to be hooked up to two ECMOs," he said.
The use of ECMOs is covered by the National Health Insurance (NHI), but hospital doctors said that reimbursement by the NHI have to be approved on a case-by-case basis.
"In around 11 percent of cases, reimbursement is denied," said Ko Wen-che (
In such cases the hospital is required to absorb the cost rather than passing it on to the patients.
Although ECMO has been in use for 14 years, the treatment has come under the spotlight in recent years. Many patients' families now request ECMO treatment by name when their loved ones are in critical condition, while others have criticized hospitals for overusing the expensive treatment on unsuitable candidates.
"Deciding whether to treat a patient with ECMO is an agonizing choice," Ko said.
"It's even harder to decide when to turn the ECMO off," Ko said.
About 150 patients were put on ECMO therapy last year at NTUH, more than any other hospital in the world. Sixty survived, a success rate of just 40 percent.
"But without the ECMO, every one of those 60 people would be dead," Ko said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by