Pregnant swine flu patient returns to Scotland from Sweden

Published on Thursday 13 August 2009 14:39

A PREGNANT swine flu patient transferred to Sweden for specialist treatment has returned to the UK, it was confirmed today.

Sharon Pentleton, 26, was flown from Scotland to Stockholm because no beds were available in the UK for the rare procedure she required.

Ms Pentleton, from North Ayrshire, had been receiving treatment in the intensive care unit at Crosshouse Hospital in Kilmarnock due to an extreme reaction to the H1N1 virus.

A spokeswoman for Karolinska University Hospital said today that the patient had left their care and returned to the UK.

NHS Ayrshire and Arran recommended that she received a highly-specialised procedure known as extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (Ecmo) for her symptoms of adult respiratory distress syndrome.

The Ecmo treatment involves circulating the ill person's blood outside the body and adding oxygen to it artificially.

It is a relatively new technique which is used when a patient's lungs are functioning very poorly even with ventilation and high levels of oxygen.

The UK has a national Ecmo unit in Leicester but all five beds were being used at the end of July when Ms Pentleton had to be transferred.