A case report—prone position ventilation as an ECMO sparing strategy for re-expansion pulmonary edema following minimally invasive cardiac surgery

ABSTRACT

Re-expansion pulmonary edema after minimally invasive cardiac surgery is a rare complication. The severity of edema dictates the mode of management with some patients responding well to lung protective strategy of ventilation whereas some requiring ECMO intervention. In our case, the patient responded well to prone position ventilation strategy; a proven treatment for ARDS patients and less attempted in RPE cases due to easy availability of ECMO.