Toddler With Rare Condition Gets Her Lungs 'Washed' Months After Suffering From COVID-19

A 22-month-old girl had to undergo a “lung washing” procedure after being diagnosed with a rare health condition that causes deposition of milk-like material in the lungs, making respiration difficult. The child had contracted COVID-19 in June.

Doctors said the child, hailing from the Indian state of Odisha, was suffering from a condition called Pulmonary Alveolar Proteinosis, Hindustan Times reported.

People with this condition have surfactant protein depositing in their lungs. The disease activity over time varies among patients, with some experiencing life-threatening respiratory failure. In this case, the child could not cough out the milk-like material.

Doctors said the child had contracted COVID-19 along with other family members in June this year and recovered. However, a month later, she developed a fever with breathing difficulty, following which she was admitted to various hospitals.

However, as her condition did not improve, she was finally moved to the Pediatrics department of AIIMS Bhubaneswar. She was then breathing heavily and needed 15 to 20 liters of oxygen per day. Her oxygen saturation level was 70 to 80 percent.

After diagnosing her condition, doctors decided the only treatment option was to wash both lungs with saline. The procedure called Whole Lung Lavage (WLL) is carried out with the patient asleep. The excess surfactant is “washed” out of one lung with salt water while the other is hooked to a breathing machine supplying pure oxygen.

However, this was a challenging process as the girl was extremely sick. She was then put on ECMO (artificial lungs).

"We had to wash both her lungs with salt water and put her on ECMO support for 26 hours. The second lung washing was carried out about 5 to 6 days ago without ECMO support. After that, her condition improved. On Saturday, she was discharged with 1-2 liters of oxygen support as the oxygen saturation level was 97 to 98 percent,” Director of AIIMS, Dr. Gitanjali Batmanbane, said.

The girl is the youngest child in the country to have undergone this procedure.

According to doctors, the child’s lungs now need to undergo regular washing. "We hope the child may not need ECMO in the future as the condition of her lungs is better," said pediatrician Dr. Krishna Mohan Gulla.

However, it is not clear whether her condition has any connection with her contracting COVID-19.