Boy recovers after drinking paint thinner

However, what the child consumed was not water, but a paint thinner. The child was immediately rushed to a local medical college hospital for treatment where it was found that he had developed extensive pneumonia, due to the extensive seepage of the paint thinner into his lungs. He was put on ventilator and referred to a bigger centre the following day. Admitted in a city hospital, he was put on Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO), and has gradually improved.  

“Our transport team picked him up and brought him to the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at Kanchi Kamakoti CHILDS Trust Hospital. He was critically ill with low oxygen levels and low blood pressure,” said Dr Bala Ramachandran, Head, Department of Paediatric Intensive Care at the hospital. 

Despite maximum breathing support with the ventilator and treatment with inhaled nitric oxide gas, his oxygen levels remained critically low, causing his liver and kidney to fail. 

“Seeing his condition, we decided to put him on ECMO to which his parents immediately agreed,” stated the doctor, adding that the Cardiac Surgery team from Fortis Malar Hospital started him on veno-venous ECMO. The liver and kidney failure were managed supportively and both organs recovered,” he added. 

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is described as a treatment that uses a pump to circulate blood through an artificial lung back into the bloodstream of a very ill baby. This system provides heart lung bypass support outside of the baby’s body. It may help support a child who is awaiting a heart or lung transplant. As he gradually improved, Gitvin was off ECMO after eight days and was taken off the ventilator on September 1.