Dallas Ebola patient on ventilator and receiving kidney dialysis

[TorchTheWitch]

DALLAS (Reuters) - The Ebola patient fighting for his life in a Dallas hospital is on a ventilator and a kidney dialysis machine to help stabilize his health, the hospital said on Tuesday.

Liberian national Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person diagnosed with the deadly virus on U.S. soil, has also been given the experimental medication brincidofovir. A hospital in Nebraska said it is using the same drug to treat an American journalist who was airlifted from Liberia and arrived Monday.

Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital said in a statement that Duncan's liver function declined over the weekend. It said although it has since improved, "doctors caution that this could vary in coming days."

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This doesn't sound so good to me.

[LisaL]

1. They are giving him a really powerful experimental drug.

This is the same drug that save an 8 year old boy dying from adenovirus.

"This is not the first time brincidofovir has made national headlines. Earlier this year, the unapproved drug was credited with helping save 8-year-old Josh Hardy, who in March was fighting to survive an adenovirus -- a common virus that causes colds but can also be much more serious."
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/latest-experimental-drug-fight-ebola-brincidofovir/story?id=26002675

[Quixote1818]

2. His liver doing better is a good sign.

To me that shows his body may have stabilized and is just beginning to beat the virus.

[Barack_America]

3. Not good. The kidneys are not resilient organs.

Last edited Wed Oct 8, 2014, 12:26 AM - Edit history (1)

I've personally not seen anyone survive the course he has taken. Very sad. My thoughts are with him. I do not believe he knew he was exposed to this awful disease.

Scratch that, there was one. She was beyond sick, but she recovered. I had forgotten she required dialysis for a time.

[cwydro]

4. Doesn't sound so good to me either. nt

[TwilightGardener]

5. His kidneys were probably overwhelmed with crud from cell breakdown,

his hypermetabolic state, acid/base imbalance, blood pressure problems, and probably big fluid demands. The good thing is, the doctors can manage those factors to a pretty good extent with the dialysis (in his case it is probably CRRT, continuous renal replacement therapy I think it's called) and with the ventilation, hopefully his acute kidney problems won't be permanent injury. I wonder if he was still making urine at all?

[uppityperson]

6. I love DU sometimes, reading the combination of slang and jargon while just skimming through

thinking yup, sounds plausible, hope so too.

[Barack_America]

7. You're more optimistic than I...

...and probably more experienced. My limited experience of septic patients on CRRT is not good. I guess if it's just AKI due to breakdown products, but if it's hypovolemia/cardiorenal?

I think his story is amazingly sad. I believe this was his first time out of war-ravaged and poverty-stricken West Africa. Now this.

[LisaL]

8. He would have been dead already if he stayed in Africa.

I don't think they would have provided him with a ventilator, dialysis and experimental drug.
Supposedly he is showing improvement.

[Barack_America]

9. Can you be sympathetic to the hope he and his family must have felt...

...just days ago, now this?

[LisaL]

10. ???

Latest information is that he is actually improving. His liver function is improving. His temperature is back to normal. Which is a good thing, no?
http://www.click2houston.com/news/ebola-patients-liver-function-improving/28994030

[Barack_America]

13. I can't think of an instance where going on dialysis is a good sign.

I can think of instances where dropping temps and normalizing liver values are actually bad signs.

We'll see. It's up to his body and his docs, but mostly his body.

[Barack_America]

14. Responding to myself here...

The NYT is reporting his blood pressure has stabilized, suggesting the dialysis may be for acute kidney injury and not multi system organ failure. This IS a good sign!

[LisaL]

15. That's what I am saying.

He has been put on an extremely powerful experimental medication. Which is probably the reason he is showing signs of improvement. I sure hope they got more of this medication than they had of ZMapp.

[AverageJoe90]

16. He *was* improving.....

But then it looks like his system suddenly crashed, or something. He died at 7:51 this morning, sadly.

[kestrel91316]

11. I get the funny feeling this isn't going to end well for Mr. Duncan.

[AverageJoe90]

12. We can only hope Mr. Duncan continues to get better. nt