What is an episode of respiratory failure and how does it affect Pope Francis?
The Vatican informed on Monday that Pope Francis suffered two episodes of “acute respiratory failure” and that the pontiffs prognosis remains “reserved.”
The Holy See Press Office said on Monday that Pope Francis suffered two episodes of “acute respiratory failure” which required doctors to perform two bronchoscopies in order to remove large secretions. The press release stated that by the afternoon “non-invasive mechanical ventilation was resumed.”
While the Holy Father remains “alert, oriented and cooperative at all times,” the Holy See said that “the prognosis remains reserved.”
Expert says two bronchoscopies “is not good” sign for Pope Francis
Pope Francis has been at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital for over two weeks where he is being treated for an ongoing bout of bronchitis. He was diagnosed with “bilateral pneumonia” last month, which has caused inflammation of his lungs, in addition to a bronchitis infection.
The Holy See explained that the two attacks were caused by the 88-year-old pontiff’s bronchi attempting to expel the accumulated mucus in his lungs. The Holy See said that the results of the Pope’s blood test showed that values are unchanged.
This suggests that his white blood cell count is not elevated which “in turn suggests that there is no new infection.” Thus the accumulation of mucus that caused the two attacks “is merely the consequence of the Pope’s pre-existing pneumonia.”
However, the need to perform two bronchoscopies, a moderately invasive procedure, so close together to remove mucus “is not good” said Dr. Theodore Iwashyna, professor of pulmonary and critical care medicine at Johns Hopkins University, speaking to CNN. “As your pneumonia gets better you’ll produce less mucus. Sometimes as your pneumonia gets better you finally get strong enough to cough it up,” he added.
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