A recent study about the novel coronavirus disease or COVID-19 suggests that the virus not just infects and damages the lungs, it also harms other organs like the heart, liver, and the kidney. With that, more COVID-19 patients need dialysis, but some major cities are already suffering from dialysis equipment shortage.
COVID-19 Damages Heart, Liver, and Kidneys Too
According to The Washington Post, medical experts from around the world have seen evidence that the coronavirus infection attacks other organs of the body besides the lungs.
While respiratory issues are common in severe cases of coronavirus, some patients are experiencing acute kidney disease, blood clots, heart inflammation, liver problems, and intestinal damage.
Although experts believe that the "cytokine storm" is partly the suspect behind these damages, they also think that these issues are too significant to be solely caused by an immune system overdrive.
Because of these complications, treatments have become increasingly challenging for COVID-19 patients and that the course of their recovery is much less certain.
Alan Kliger, a nephrologist from the Yale School of Medicine, said that almost half of the coronavirus patients that have been hospitalized have protein or blood in their urine, which is an early sign of kidney damage.
Additionally, 14% to 30% of intensive-care patients in both New York and Wuhan, China, has started losing kidney function and are now in need of dialysis.
"I think it's very possible that the virus attaches to the kidney cells and attacks them," Kliger said.
Dialysis Equipment Shortage
Following the fate of ventilators, dialysis equipment is now in shortage, and hospitals and medical frontliners in the metro areas are faced with another problem and another set of difficult decisions.
"We only have nine or 10 machines, and now we have over 30 patients that need them," one physician from Queens said, according to NPR. "So it becomes a question of who the resource goes to, and these are very difficult decisions."
Besides the shortage of dialysis machines, unique fluids and filters needed to run them are also lacking in supply.
Worse, there's also a lack of workforce as the machines needed to be operated by highly specialized dialysis nurses.
Dr. Steven Fishbane, the head of nephrology in New York's biggest hospital network, Northwell Health, said that their intensive care unit nurses typically take care of two patients. But now, each nurse has to take care of four patients.
Deciding Who Gets it
There has always been a shortage of dialysis equipment even during the best of times, but the current onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic has led medical experts scratching their heads on how they would provide care for their patients and help them recover.
These dialysis machines, which are different from the dialysis machines used by chronic dialysis patients, need to be operated for 24 hours.
But due to the shortage, staff had to use a single machine for two patients, 12 hours each.
As with ventilators, dialysis machines are only used as a temporary substitute when the kidneys are not functioning by cleaning the blood of toxins and salts, which the organ is responsible for.
It can help a COVID-19 patient live longer, but it does not guarantee a cure.
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