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Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...al-suffering-rare-complication-swine-flu.html
Pregnant woman rushed to Swedish hospital after suffering rare complication from swine flu
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 12:30 AM on 24th July 2009
A woman critically ill with swine flu has been transferred to Sweden for specialised treatment after suffering a rare complication.
She was flown to Stockholm because no beds were available in the UK for the rare procedure she needs.
The 26-year-old Scot was admitted to Crosshouse Hospital in Kilmarnock last week where she has been on a ventilator due to an extreme reaction to the H1N1 virus.
The pregnant woman had been treated in the hospital's intensive care unit.
NHS Ayrshire and Arran's specialist intensive care team recommended that she receive a highly-specialised procedure known as extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).
This involves circulating the patient's blood outside the body and adding oxygen to it artificially.
ECMO is a relatively new technique that is used when a patient's lungs are functioning very poorly even with ventilation and high levels of oxygen.
The UK has a national ECMO unit in Leicester but all five beds there are currently being used.
However a bed has been found in a similar unit in Stockholm and the patient was transferred under pan-European arrangements for sharing such scarce facilities.
A specialist medical team was sent from Stockholm and the pregnant woman was flown to Sweden, arriving at the hospital last night.
Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon
The health board said she has adult respiratory distress syndrome.
Dr Robert Masterton, executive medical director of NHS Ayrshire and Arran said: 'Once an ECMO bed was identified in Sweden, our intensive care specialists worked closely with our Swedish colleagues to make sure the patient was stable before being transferred.
'The family have been fully involved in this decision and support this referral. They have asked for privacy while they concentrate on the patient's treatment and recovery.'
Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said: 'This woman has suffered severe complications and requires urgent and highly specialised treatment.
'It is therefore absolutely right that she is transferred to Sweden for treatment which could save her life.
'The extreme rarity of the procedure she requires means that there are pan-European arrangements in place for sharing facilities when any one country's unit is full, as in the UK's case at present.
'This is therefore an excellent example of these arrangements working in practice for the benefit of patients.
'By the same token, we in the UK have taken patients from other European countries for this procedure in the past.'
Pregnant woman rushed to Swedish hospital after suffering rare complication from swine flu
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 12:30 AM on 24th July 2009
A woman critically ill with swine flu has been transferred to Sweden for specialised treatment after suffering a rare complication.
She was flown to Stockholm because no beds were available in the UK for the rare procedure she needs.
The 26-year-old Scot was admitted to Crosshouse Hospital in Kilmarnock last week where she has been on a ventilator due to an extreme reaction to the H1N1 virus.
The pregnant woman had been treated in the hospital's intensive care unit.
NHS Ayrshire and Arran's specialist intensive care team recommended that she receive a highly-specialised procedure known as extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).
This involves circulating the patient's blood outside the body and adding oxygen to it artificially.
ECMO is a relatively new technique that is used when a patient's lungs are functioning very poorly even with ventilation and high levels of oxygen.
The UK has a national ECMO unit in Leicester but all five beds there are currently being used.
However a bed has been found in a similar unit in Stockholm and the patient was transferred under pan-European arrangements for sharing such scarce facilities.
A specialist medical team was sent from Stockholm and the pregnant woman was flown to Sweden, arriving at the hospital last night.
Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon
The health board said she has adult respiratory distress syndrome.
Dr Robert Masterton, executive medical director of NHS Ayrshire and Arran said: 'Once an ECMO bed was identified in Sweden, our intensive care specialists worked closely with our Swedish colleagues to make sure the patient was stable before being transferred.
'The family have been fully involved in this decision and support this referral. They have asked for privacy while they concentrate on the patient's treatment and recovery.'
Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said: 'This woman has suffered severe complications and requires urgent and highly specialised treatment.
'It is therefore absolutely right that she is transferred to Sweden for treatment which could save her life.
'The extreme rarity of the procedure she requires means that there are pan-European arrangements in place for sharing facilities when any one country's unit is full, as in the UK's case at present.
'This is therefore an excellent example of these arrangements working in practice for the benefit of patients.
'By the same token, we in the UK have taken patients from other European countries for this procedure in the past.'
