SEPTEMBER - 20228In My OpinionVenoarterial Extra-Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation, or VA-ECMO, is a life support treatment used for patients who have severe and life-threatening heart problems. The ECMO device can replace the functions of both the heart and lungs and support patients from a few hours to multiple days, depending on their condition and progress.Through plastic tubes placed in large veins and arteries in the body, the ECMO equipment pumps blood from the patient's body to an artificial lung (oxygenator), which adds oxygen and removes carbon dioxide. The ECMO machine warms the oxygen-filled blood before returning it to the patient's artery via a pump with the same force as the heart, replacing its function. The process uses a hemofilter that acts as an artificial kidney, and heparin to prevent blood from clotting while outside the body. The treatment allows the heart and lungs to rest and heal.ECMO therapy has been around since the 1970s. Its use has continually increased as a supportive treatment for cardiac, respiratory and combined cardiopulmonary failure. ECMO procedures gained significant publicity during the pandemic related to respiratory use with COVID-19 patients. But from a cardiovascular perspective in our heart hospital, our most frequent use of ECMO tends to be with patients experiencing cardiogenic shock.In its simplest form, ECMO is a miniaturized heart-lung machine. It can function as an artificial heart or artificial lung. The equipment is relatively small and easy to transport, so a two-person ECMO transport team can take the treatment to a remote patient at a hospital without ECMO capability and stabilize the patient for transport back to a major medical center for specialized care. Because of the technology and Jennifer Ledbetter, Vice President of Operations, Medical City Heart and Spine Hospitals,HCA Healthcare [NYSE:HCA]ByTHE USE OF VENOARTERIAL EXTRA-CORPOREAL MEMBRANE OXYGENATION FOR MECHANICAL CIRCULATORYSUPPORT OF HEART PATIENTSJennifer Ledbetter
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