Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa who suffered a cardiac arrest on Sunday evening is still on ECMO or extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation, a machine that mimics the heart-lung functions. Heart surgeons said that ECMO is a salvage treatment and little medical intervention is possible at this stage to help Jayalalithaa recover.
At 12.55 pm on Monday, Apollo Hospitals put out this tweet about her condition.
The 68-year-old politician had admitted to Apollo Hospitals in Chenna on September 22 and put in the intensive care unit. She was said to be suffering from a low-grade fever and dehydration. She was later shifted to a private room which officials said was a step-down intensive care unit. Her health was said to be “improving”.
However, on Sunday evening, as hospital authorities said that Jayalalithaa had suffered a cardiac arrest, doctors not involved in her treatment said it indicated that the chief-minister’s health “might not be as good as it was being portrayed.”
Only the previous day, on Saturday, the AIADMK had said that Jayalalithaa had been declared fully recovered by a team of doctors from Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences.
What is ECMO?
ECMO is a bridge for the recovery. If a patient is on ECMO support, it indicates extreme gravity, affecting the survival of the patient. ECMO support allows the heart and lungs to rest.
The machine pumps and oxygenates a patient’s blood, a function performed by the heart and lung, thus allowing these organs to rest and recuperate.
Doctors said that the survival rates for patients put on ECMO support is only 50%.
Diabetes and hypertension will worsen her recovery
Jayalalithaa is a diabetic and suffers from hypertension-conditions which will hamper her recovery, said doctors. Being on ECMO is not a good sign, said a doctor requesting anonymity. The doctor who has worked in Chennai said that this is the second time that the leader has been put on ECMO support. “In western countries, a patient is allowed to live on ECMO support for weeks. Its shelf life is about 21 days,” he said. Scroll.in could not confirm whether Jayalalithaa has been on ECMO support previously.
Amidst reports that Jayalalithaa will be taken in for a heart surgery, doctors said that it is not really an option at this juncture. “She was in the hospital for over two months, the team of doctors must have ruled out any solvable heart ailment,” explained a cardiologist from Mumbai. “It does not appear to be a blockage that can be removed by placing a stent. The problem is bigger.”
India’s leading heart surgeon, Dr KM Cherian told Scroll.in that the ECMO support will give rest to her lungs and improve the heart contractions. “Once the lungs clear off, it will be easy to take her off the ventilator,” he said.
Cherian echoed the sentiments of other medics that Jayalalithaa’s problem is not that of the heart alone. “She is diabetic and suffers from hypertension,” he said. “We need to know what exactly has caused the insult to the heart and treat it.”
Heart transplant not a option
When asked, if a heart transplant could help the ailing leader, Cherian said that he is not privy to her health details. “But, severe diabetes is a contraindication for heart transplant,” said Cherian who is said to know Jayalalithaa personally. However, he refused to divulge any details on his hospital visits to the chief minister.
Meanwhile, a team of doctors from All India Institute of Medical Science on Monday rushed to Chennai, Union Health Minister, JP Nadda tweeted. Dr Richard Beale, an intensive care expert in London, was brought to Chennai in October to assist the team of doctors treating Jayalalithaa. Dr Beale was contacted again on Sunday evening after her condition worsened.
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