41 year old gentleman gets " SECOND LIFE "

Read about 41-year-old Mr. Riyas recovery story

41 year old Mr. Riyas was admitted to VPS lakeshore hospital with severe breathing difficulty, cough and low oxygen levels in blood. The duration of illness was only 3days, prior to which he was in perfect health. At admission, his oxygen level in blood was <50%, was in extreme respiratory distress and xray of chest showed severe pneumonia involving more than 90% of his lungs. He was evaluated by the pulmonologist, diagnosed to have severe viral pneumonia which was later confirmed to be H1N1 along with ARDS which is a very serious complication of pneumonia. He also had hypotension and renal failure. Critical care and nephrology team were immediately involved, was ventilated immediately on arrival, resuscitative measures including dialysis were initiated. Morbid obesity (BMI of 40) and very poor lung compliance made ventilation an extremely difficult task. Ventilating in prone position by turning his face down which is an option in such difficult cases also was tried. It was really a difficult task to turn a person like Riyas who weighed 120Kg face down without compromising ventilation and it required the efforts of several staff members. Despite these efforts, oxygenation parameters did not improve. ECMO which is a lifesaving option to bypass the lung in severe ARDS could not be initiated due to the extremely high cost involved. However, with the untiring efforts of a dedicated team of expert doctors including Pulmonologist, critical care specialists, nephrologist as well as paramedic staff and with fine tuning of ventilation parameters, medications and dialysis support, he was back to his normal state after more than 1month of ventilator care and ICU stay. The fact that Riyas walked home after surviving one and half months of hospital stay including a month in ventilator becomes all the more rewarding to the treating team of doctors and family considering the very high death rates in severe ARDS with multiple organ failure. RIYAS IS ONE OF THE VERY FEW EXTREMELY LUCKY PERSONS TO HAVE SURVIVED THE ODDS. It was the unrelenting efforts of the dedicated team of experts at VPS Lakeshore hospital along with the full support and prayers by the family members and close community that made this herculean task possible.