Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO)

Max Healthcare is one of the pioneer hospitals in providing ECMO services for whole of Northern India.

What Is ECMO:

Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation or ECMO, is a treatment used for patients with life-threatening heart and/or lung problems. It provides long-term breathing and heart support and is used only when all of the standard treatments for those problems have already been tried. ECMO can support patients for days to weeks while doctors treat their underlying illness.

What Does ECMO Stand For?

Extracorporeal: outside the body

Membrane: a type of artificial lung

Oxygenation: the process of getting oxygen into the blood

ECMO is performed using a heart-lung bypass machine similar to the one used during open heart surgery. The ECMO machine, often referred to as a “circuit”, is quite large and contains sterile plastic tubing that moves blood from your baby to the “ECMO lung” and then back to your child. The ECMO lung adds oxygen to the blood and removes carbon dioxide, as a healthy lung would.

There are two types of ECMO. Venovenous (V-V) ECMO is used when the heart is functioning well and only the lungs need to rest and heal. Venoarterial (V-A) ECMO is used when the heart as well as the lungs need to rest and heal.