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©2013 Baishideng Publishing Group Co., Limited. All rights reserved.
Successful management of life-threatening respiratory failure from H1N1 influenza
Nawwar Al-Attar, Haitham Altaani, Patrick Nataf, Department of Cardiac Surgery, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP), Bichat Hospital, 75018 Paris, France
Lila Bouadma, Michel Wolff, Medical Intensive Care Unit, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP), Bichat Hospital, 75018 Paris, France
Author contributions: All authors contributed equally to this work; Al-Attar N and Altaani H performed the ECMO procedure, collected and reviewed clinical information about the patient and wrote the report; Bouadma L and Wolff M were involved with daily care at the intensive care unit and assisted with report writing; Nataf P was consulted on management of the patient and assisted with report writing.
Correspondence to: Nawwar Al-Attar, PhD, Professor, Department of Cardiac Surgery, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP), Bichat Hospital, 46 rue Henri Huchard, 75018 Paris, France. nawwar.al-attar@bch.aphp.fr
Telephone: +33-1402-57132 Fax: +33-1402-57229
Received: January 8, 2013
Revised: February 18, 2013
Accepted: March 9, 2013
Published online: March 28, 2013
Revised: February 18, 2013
Accepted: March 9, 2013
Published online: March 28, 2013
Core Tip
Core tip: Novel influenza A virus infection can result in acute respiratory distress syndrome extremely difficult to manage with conventional mechanical ventilation and non-invasive therapy. Veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation can provide respiratory and circulatory support in these patients. We successfully weaned a postpartum patient after 10 d of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. Furthermore, by employing the pure percutaneous method of cannulae insertion, we minimized implantation time and trauma.