Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is a team sport at Northside Hospital, and this approach to caring for ECMO patients is becoming more common worldwide as interventional cardiology, cardiology and critical care medicine take on more of a role in these complex patients.
At some centers around the world, cardiothoracic surgery manages ECMO patients, but this is becoming less common globally as the number of indications for ECMO has increased well beyond post-cardiotomy patients. Thus, several centers are shifting to a model similar to what we have employed at Northside, with interventional cardiology cannulating patients and a multidisciplinary approach to post-cannulation care.
As the volume of ECMO worldwide has increased over the past decade (as per data from the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization), so has the data and knowledge surrounding complications associated with ECMO. Vascular complications have decreased by taking steps upfront, at the time of cannulation, to perfuse the affected extremity in veno-arterial ECMO patients. Dual lumen veno-venous ECMO cannulas allow for patient mobility and ambulation on ECMO, which would be more cumbersome and higher risk with femoral cannulation. Minimizing sedation, mobilizing patients, and in some cases, liberating them from the ventilator are goals that the ECMO team prioritizes in every case.
If you have a patient with respiratory failure, pulmonary embolism or cardiogenic shock who you feel may benefit from ECMO, please call the Northside Transfer Line at 855-662-6625 to speak with the ECMO team on call.
Learn more about the ECMO program at Northside Hospital Heart Institute.
