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  • 2020-06-12 (xsd:date)
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  • Was This Lung Removed from a COVID-19 Patient? (en)
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  • On June 11, 2020, a disturbing photograph purportedly showing a lung that had been removed from a COVID-19 patient started to circulate on social media: This is a genuine photograph of a lung removed from such a patient. The picture was shared in a news release from Chicago's Northwestern Memorial Hospital after surgeons there performed a successful double-lung transplant on a COVID-19 coronavirus patient, an otherwise healthy woman in her 20s. Northwestern Medical writes: Northwestern Medicine reported that this woman, whose name is being withheld to protect her privacy, was healthy before she contracted the virus. The woman was sick for about two weeks before she was admitted to the hospital at the end of April. She was place on a ventilator, but her condition continued to worsen, and soon her lungs were damaged beyond repair. Dr. Ankit Bharat, chief of thoracic surgery and surgical director of the Northwestern Medicine Lung Transplant Program, said in the same write-up that this COVID-19 patient's only hope was a lung transplant. But doctors had to wait until she tested negative for the disease, and her organs were healthy enough, to proceed with the delicate procedure. Bharat also spoke to The New York Times about the life-saving surgery. While Bharat said that he wanted people to know that this operation could save COVID-19 patients with severely damaged lungs, he added that this surgery wasn't a viable option for every COVID-19 patient: Here's a news report from Chicago's WGN about the surgery: (en)
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