Pope resting after acute breathing crises forced him to resume noninvasive ventilation
Rome — Pope Francis rested early Tuesday after he suffered further setbacks in his fight against double pneumonia: two new acute respiratory crises that required him to resume using noninvasive mechanical ventilation to breathe. In its early Tuesday update, the Vatican said: “The pope slept through the night, now rest continues.” Francis suffered the two crises Monday. Doctors extracted “copious” amounts of mucus that had accumulated in his lungs, the Vatican said in a late update. They performed two bronchoscopies, in which a camera-tipped tube was sent into his airways with a sucker at the tip to suction out fluid. The 88-year-old pope, who has chronic lung disease and had part of one lung removed as a young man, was put back on noninvasive mechanical ventilation: a mask that covers his nose and mouth and pumps oxygen into the lungs. Francis remained alert, oriented and cooperated with medical personnel, the Vatican said. The prognosis remained guarded, meaning he was not out of danger. Doctors didn’t say if he remained in stable condition, though they referred to the crises in the past tense, suggesting they were over. The crises were a new setback in what has become a more than two-week battle by the frail pope to overcome a complex respiratory infection. The Vatican said the mucus that had accumulated in Francis’ lungs was his body’s reaction to the original pneumonia infection and not a new infection, given laboratory tests don’t indicate any new bacteria. Dr. John Coleman, a pulmonary critical care doctor at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, said the episodes were more concerning than the last one on Friday, in which Francis had a coughing fit, inhaled some vomit that needed to be extracted and then was put on the noninvasive mechanical ventilation for a day and then didn’t need it anymore. The use of bronchoscopies reflects a worrying level of mucus and phlegm in the lungs, Coleman said. “The fact that they had to go in there and remove it manually is concerning, because it means that he is not clearing the secretions on his own,” he said. “He’s taking little steps forward and then steps back,” said Coleman, who is not involved in Francis’ care. Francis, who is not physically active, uses a wheelchair and is overweight, had been undergoing respiratory physiotherapy to try to improve his lung function. But the accumulation of the secretions in his lungs was … “Pope resting after acute breathing crises forced him to resume noninvasive ventilation “ →