COVID-19: British patient recovers memory after days in coma

One week after being disconnected from the extracorporeal membrane oxygenation machine (ECMO), the patient, a Vietnam Airlines pilot, could move his hands and press letters on the phone keypad.

During the week, he could also smile at doctors, get up in bed, move his legs, write on the board and press the buttons to adjust the height of the bed.

Doctors say the patient is responding to antibiotics and antifungal drugs. His lungs are functioning better, but the respiratory muscles remain weak.

The patient’s kidney function has already recovered. So far he has stopped dialysis for two weeks.

The British citizen was diagnosed with the SARS-CoV-2 virus and was admitted to the Ho Chi Minh City-based Hospital of Tropical Disease on March 18. He then fell into a coma due to health deterioration, mostly lung infection complications.

After two months of treatment, the patient tested negative and was transferred to Cho Ray hospital, also in HCM City. First CT-scan results showed his lungs had severely been damaged, with only 10% of their function remaining active.

Doctors were thinking of a lung transplant, considering it the only solution to save the patient. However, to their surprise, the British citizen has gradually made an amazing recovery and the surgery may be no longer a good choice now.

Currently, doctors are maintaining physical therapy for the patient twice a day.