European journal of cardio-thoracic surgery : official journal of the European Association for Cardio-thoracic Surgery
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Eur J Cardiothorac Surg · Mar 1999
Case ReportsCombination of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) and pulmonary lavage in a patient with pulmonary alveolar proteinosis.
We describe a rare case of pulmonary alveolar proteinosis in a young woman with dyspnea and progressive hypoxaemia due to the alveolar deposition of insoluble, surfactant-like material. Routine treatment includes whole-lung-lavage (WLL) using double-lumen-tubes for selective lavaging of each lung. We performed three whole-lung-lavages and used veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (v-vECMO) to support oxygenation during these procedures.