Unique ECMO treatment used for first time in Transbaikal

A unique treatment method for a patient — extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) — was used for the first time in the Transbaikal region by doctors at the Regional Clinical Infectious Diseases Hospital (KKIB) in Chita in 2025. This was announced by the chief physician of KKIB, Sergei Lukyanov, on January 23 at a roundtable by Chita.Ru dedicated to the year«s results in the region»s healthcare.

ECMO is an invasive method in which a device temporarily takes over the function of the patient«s heart and lungs. Blood is taken from the body through large veins or arteries, passes through a special membrane oxygenator where it is saturated with oxygen and freed from carbon dioxide, and then returned to the bloodstream.

«This is the first unique case not only for our clinic but for our entire healthcare system, the first successful ECMO case in the history of Transbaikal medicine. A man is admitted, a young man without chronic diseases, sick with the flu, as many of us were in the previous month. He just has a cough and high temperature. He is transferred to us from another hospital, and among other things, he develops acute respiratory distress syndrome. And against the background of prolonged lung ventilation, we decide to transfer him to ECMO technology. The technology is very risky, very invasive,» Lukyanov noted.

According to him, at KKIB, a fully domestic device was used for ECMO, which creates rapid pressure with the help of a pump: «Blood is passed through the oxygenator and oxygenated outside the human body. That is, we took the lungs outside the human body. The technology is lengthy. And then we see improvement in the patient«s indicators. All oxygenation parameters are rising. We also had to combine technologies. That is, all of big medicine gathers around one patient. All the forces of the hospital are aimed at saving his life. The patient survived three septic shocks and cardiac arrest. And after two months, he leaves the hospital in a condition of moderate severity. Normal body temperature, normal indicators, completely without respiratory support.»

The chief physician added that almost 90,000 liters of the patient«s blood were passed through the device during treatment.

«He visited us on New Year«s, congratulated us. He said that he got married, works normally — driving a taxi, traveling to districts. His life has returned to normal,» summarized Sergei Lukyanov.