Oxygenating system helps treat H1N1 flu

MELBOURNE, Oct. 12 (UPI) -- Most H1N1 patients in Australia and New Zealand who experienced respiratory failure and were treated with additional oxygen survived, researchers said.

Some H1N1 patients in Australia and New Zealand during the southern hemisphere winter developed severe acute respiratory distress syndrome and were treated with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.

The Australia and New Zealand extracorporeal membrane oxygenation influenza investigators in collaboration with the Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Research Centre at Monash University in Melbourne said acute respiratory distress syndrome is a lung condition that leads to respiratory failure due to the rapid accumulation of fluid in the lungs. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation is a type of life support that circulates blood through a system that adds oxygen.

The study found 68 patients with severe influenza-associated acute respiratory distress syndrome were treated with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, including 53 with confirmed H1N1 flu. An additional 133 patients with influenza A received mechanical ventilation, but not extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, in the same ICUs.

The study, published online ahead of print of the Nov. 4 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, found 68 patients who received extracorporeal membrane oxygenation had a median age of 34.4 years and half were men.

The median duration of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support was 10 days. At the time of reporting, 54 of the 68 patients had survived and 14 had died.