Awake ECMO and mobilizing patients on ECMO

ECMO or no ECMO: Do no harm.

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) has been used in the management of neonates with life-threatening cardiorespiratory diseases since 19821. Several studies have demonstrated that ECMO promotes normal survival in neonates with respiratory failure2-4. After decades of discussion, ECMO is now well accepted as a standard of treatment for neonatal respiratory failure refractory to conventio...

ECMO, ARDS and AH1N1

ECMO and the intensivist

Sir, the influenza pandemic of 2009/2010 has brought pulmonary extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMo) once again to the attention of those involved in intensive care. Specialized conferences are now common and topics such as “the best techniques for blood vessel cannulation” give the impression that ECMo is a well known and well handled technique by most clinicians. Despite the achievements...

Microcirculatory assessment of patients under VA-ECMO

BACKGROUND Veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO) is an effective technique for providing emergency mechanical circulatory support for patients with cardiogenic shock. VA-ECMO enables a rapid restoration of global systemic organ perfusion, but it has not been found to always show a parallel improvement in the microcirculation. We hypothesized in this study that the response...

Common problems and troubleshooting on ECMO run

The technological advances in ECMO have changed to enhance safety, accessibility and facilitate its use, contributing to decreased morbidity and improved survival of patients requiring ECMO support. Major advances in ECMO deployment paralleled advances in conventional CPB including cannulas, pumps, oxygenator bubble detectors and heparin bonded circuits which decrease platelet activation, circu...