The novel coronavirus infectious disease (COVID-19) is now regarded as a seasonal cold, but 5 years ago, it was a frightening illness that brought terror to the world. In February 2020, a woman in her 50s, a severe COVID-19 patient, was urgently transported to the negative pressure isolation room in the emergency intensive care unit at Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital in Anyang, Gyeonggi Province. At that time, the patient had a tube inserted into her airway and was on a ventilator, but her condition did not improve. Even powerful anti-inflammatory steroid medications proved to be ineffective.
The medical team decided to use an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) system. ECMO is a device that takes blood from patients whose heart or lung function is not normal, oxygenates it, and then returns it to the body. Simply put, it provides oxygen to the body by bypassing the heart and lungs. ECMO buys time to support cardiopulmonary function and keep the patient alive.
The patient received ECMO treatment for an astonishing 112 days. This was a world record for ECMO usage. With severely damaged lung function, the risk of death was high if ECMO was removed, and the only option left was a lung transplant. The medical team performed an 8-hour lung transplant surgery. After the surgery, the patient was able to breathe on her own and returned to her daily life.
Kim Hyung-soo, director of Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital and a professor of cardiovascular thoracic surgery, performed the first lung transplantation surgery for a COVID-19 patient in Korea at that time. Meeting on the 27th of last month, Director Kim noted, "We did not fully understand what kind of disease COVID-19 was, so it was uncertain whether the lungs would return after the transplant for the ECMO patient," adding, "The lungs infected by the coronavirus were small, contracted in size, and hard as a rock."
The medical team decided on the lung transplant surgery and transferred the patient to a positive pressure transplant room in the surgical intensive care unit while maintaining ECMO treatment to wait for a lung donor. Director Kim explained the situation at that time, saying, "To prevent various complications such as infection, bleeding, and thrombosis caused by long-term ECMO usage, the medical team provided concentrated care together 24 hours a day."
Director Kim commented that ECMO became widely known due to a significant incident, which has led to many misconceptions. He explained, "ECMO is not an all-purpose device that treats patients by itself but plays a bridging role to extend the lives of individuals at the brink of death," stating, "It is a means to fully sustain the lives of patients with end-stage cardiopulmonary failure until they can receive a transplant."
However, this does not diminish the value of ECMO. In fact, it holds even greater significance in that it provides medical teams with an opportunity to save critically ill patients. Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital opened the first ECMO center in Korea in March 2015. Director Kim Hyung-soo has served as the center director since then.
The ECMO center is equipped with an ECMO patient monitoring system, dialysis machines, and the latest ultrasound equipment. The hospital has deployed various specialized medical teams from departments including thoracic surgery, critical care medicine, cardiology, emergency medicine, nephrology, and neurology to the ECMO center. The regional emergency medical center at the hospital has also established a hybrid surgical room exclusively for emergency patients, allowing simultaneous procedures of cardiopulmonary resuscitation, angiography, and ECMO treatment for cardiac arrest patients.
Director Kim remarked, "Thanks to generous investments from the foundation and the medical center to strengthen critical care systems and medical services, we have been able to save more patients," stating, "The critical care system of Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital can serve as a benchmarking model for other hospitals both domestically and internationally."
Director Kim earned his Ph.D. from Hallym University Medical School and, after training in mechanical circulatory support and heart transplantation at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, Columbia University in the United States, he served as the head of the cardiovascular thoracic surgery department at Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital, and as the ECMO center director before being appointed as hospital director last year. He is staying in a residence just a 2-3 minute walk from the hospital, keeping watch over the hospital and patients 24/7.
Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital was selected last October as a hospital for the Ministry of Health and Welfare's project to support the restructuring of advanced general hospitals. This year, they expanded the intensive care unit and launched a critical care medicine department focused solely on treating severe patients in April to enhance expertise in severe patient treatment and research. Director Kim added, "I will work harder to ensure that we become a leading hospital in high-level critical care."
한림대성심병원은 지난해 10월 보건복지부의 상급종합병원 구조 전환 지원사업 대상 병원에 선정됐다. 올해는 중환자실을 확장하고, 4월에는 중증 환자만 집중적으로 진료하는 중환자의학과를 출범해 중증 환자 진료·연구 전문성을 강화했다. 김 병원장은 “고난도 중환자 치료를 선도하는 병원이 될 수 있도록 더욱 노력하겠다”고 말했다.