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A decades-old practice of flipping patients with respiratory issues onto their front side rather than having them lay on their backs may prove beneficial when dealing with coronavirus, and even increase chances of recovery, as the position is helping to improve oxygen delivery and absorption, experts say.
Dr. Imran Sharief, a pulmonary disease specialist in California, told Fox News that using what is called "prone positioning" with his coronavirus patients has proven beneficial. When patients on ventilators lie on their backs, a significant amount of pressure from the rib cage, fat content, secretions and gravity pulls contents in the body downward, thereby compressing airways, he said.
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Simply turning patients onto their front alleviates pressure and offers more area to deliver oxygen, lending more absorption in the system that will aid in oxygen delivery to all organs in the body.
Sharief, who works with patients across all counties in California, explained an average person normally intakes room air, which contains 21 percent oxygen, while COVID-19 patients require 90 to 100 percent oxygen.
Sharief, who began treating coronavirus patients six to eight weeks ago, said that of the approximately 50 to 100 patients that he's seen, up to 50 percent were treated with prone positioning in addition to other therapies.
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“We do see improvement in oxygenation. It does help us in delivering oxygen to the organ system,” Sharief said, adding the technique has also shown success in patients with severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).
That said, whether prone positioning will help a COVID-19 patient come off a ventilator remains to be seen. Sharief said it's simply too early to tell, though there has been some improvement.
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Sharief noted that his patients requiring ventilator support have been both male and female of all ages, with the youngest in their 30s.
Sharief’s suggestion to other health care physicians is to practice prone positioning early in the treatment of COVID-19, even as soon as the virus is suspected, to improve patients’ outcomes and getting them off the ventilator.
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