Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation for Complicated Scrub Typhus

• Main Authors: Eun Sun Kim, Jinwoo Lee
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Korean Society of Critical Care Medicine
• Series: Korean Journal of Critical Care Medicine
• Subjects: extracorporeal membrane oxygenation; scrub typhus; tsutsugamushi
• Online Access: http://www.kjccm.org/upload/pdf/kjccm-2015-30-1-52.pdf

Scrub typhus is a mite-borne infectious disease caused by Orientia tsutsugamushi . Although early diagnosis and appropriate antibiotic therapy improve the prognosis for the majority of patients, life-threatening complications are not uncommon. Here, we present a case of successful veno-veno-type extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for scrub typhus-induced complications, including acute respiratory distress syndrome, myocarditis and multi-organ dysfunction. To our knowledge, this is the first case report of successful extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in complicated scrub typhus in Korea.