In Paris, the intensive care unit of the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital has an extracorporeal circulation system to oxygenate the blood, which the lungs of patients who have developed the most severe forms of the coronavirus can no longer do. .

A "last chance treatment" that can be a game changer. 

REPORTAGE

In Île-de-France, hospitals are actively preparing for a potential second wave of the coronavirus epidemic.

The director of the ARS announced on Twitter that the "white plan" would be reactivated in the region on Thursday.

In Paris, the intensive care unit of the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital was very active during the first wave.

And for good reason: it specializes in an extracorporeal circulation system to oxygenate the blood.

Intended for critically ill patients, this "last chance" treatment allows patients to do what the body of patients is no longer able to do and can be a game-changer.

Europe 1 was able to visit this state-of-the-art intensive care unit.

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"This machine makes it possible to keep a patient alive for several weeks"

The device is impressive.

A large, dark red tube enters the patient's femoral vein and a lighter red tube comes out of his chinstrap.

In the meantime, the blood has been oxygenated and the CO2 removed in this machine that doctors call ECMO, acronym for "extracorporeal membrane oxygenation".

Thanks to this system, developed for nearly twenty years at Pitié-Salpétrière, "we are able to ensure 100% of the extra-corporeal pulmonary function", explains on Europe 1 Alain Combes, head of the medical intensive care unit of the hospital.

© Victor Dhollande / Europe 1

"If the patient no longer has functional lungs at all, this machine can keep him alive for several weeks", continues the doctor.

Thus, the lungs will be able to heal bonds caused by the coronavirus.

But this technique is not without risk: it is necessary to constantly monitor the machine.

"If there is a bend in one of the pipes, the flow of the machine will drop and if the start drops, the oxygenation of the blood drops a lot, which can be very dangerous for the patient", explains Guillaume. Hékimian, resuscitator.

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Two out of three patients saved

Some patients have been using these machines for three weeks, and their condition is improving day by day.

Currently, eleven of the twelve beds in this special service are occupied.

According to data from the global registry of more than 1,000 people published in

The Lancet

at the end of September

, ECMO saves 70% of patients.