AIIMS, Bhubaneswar successfully treats 22-month-old girl with rare lung disease

Bhubaneswar (Odisha) [India], September 18 : All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bhubaneswar successfully treated a 22-month-old girl with a rare lung disease called Pulmonary Alveolar Proteinosis by using the technique of washing both lungs with saline.
The 22-month-old girl was admitted to Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) with the complaint of difficulty in breathing with a high oxygen requirement.
Notably, the girl had got COVID infection in June 2021 and recovered. In July 2021, she developed a fever with breathing difficulty, for which she was admitted to various hospitals of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar. After the child's condition did not improve, she was finally referred to AIIMS, Bhubaneswar.
According to AIIMS, Bhubaneswar, the child was suspected to be suffering from Pulmonary alveolar proteinosis, a rare disease in which milk-like materials get deposited in both the lungs, which the child cannot cough out. The only available treatment option for this disease is washing both lungs with saline, which is technically challenging in such a sick child.
The hospital formed an expert team of doctors and the group decided to do the lung washing (whole lung lavage) by putting the child on ECMO support (Artificial lungs). The first such procedure was done on August 30. After the girl's condition improved, she went for a second such procedure on September 30. She is the youngest child in the country to have undergone this procedure.
The girl has been discharged on Saturday with a small minimal oxygen requirement.