About Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation: For Physicians
ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) is an extracorporeal circuit that directly oxygenates and removes carbon dioxide from the blood. With most approaches to ECMO, a cannula is placed in a central vein. Blood is drawn from the vein into the circuit by a mechanical pump before passing along the blood side of a membrane (referred to as an oxygenator or gas exchanger) that provides a blood-gas interface for diffusion of gases. The extra-corporeal blood may be warmed or cooled as needed and is returned either to a central vein (veno-venous ECMO) or to an artery (veno-arterial ECMO). Veno-venous ECMO provides respiratory support alone while veno-arterial ECMO provides respiratory and hemodynamic support.
 An illustration of how ECMO works. |
 ECMO with single site cannulation. |
 ECMO with two site cannulation. |
Click above images to enlarge.
