What does ECMO machine do?

This is an automatically translated article.

Article written by MSc Nguyen Ngoc Quang - Department of Intensive Care - Vinmec Times City International Hospital

During the recent Covid-19 epidemic, with the determination of the government and our whole health system, we have overcome the pandemic with a very low level of human damage compared to the world. In addition, with the development of science and technology, machinery and drug systems play an important part in the treatment of patients with severe Covid-19 infection.

One of the techniques mentioned many times in the media is the ECMO technique. So what is ECMO and how does it work?

1. What is ECMO?

ECMO stands for: E xtra C orporeal M embrane O xygenation (extracorporeal oxygen exchanger). In a healthy body, we are provided with oxygen thanks to the role of the lungs to take oxygen from the air and put it into the blood vessels.
In case our lungs are severely damaged, they are no longer able to absorb oxygen from the breathing air, leading to a lack of oxygen in the body. If there is no method to provide enough oxygen, the body will die.
ECMO machine was born for the purpose of providing oxygen to the body by directly introducing oxygen into the human blood stream without the role of lungs (which can be called artificial lungs).
The delivery of oxygen into the blood is a very complicated technique and cannot be prolonged, so the machine plays an extremely important role in maintaining the patient's life, but on the contrary, the patient's lungs need to recover gradually. return to replace the short-term operation of the machine (normally from 7 days to 1-2 months).

2. What is the effect?

From the above principles ECMO is used to support the following patient groups:
The lungs are severely damaged and cannot provide enough oxygen to the body The lungs are severely damaged and cannot remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from body Heart that for some reason cannot pump enough blood to the body ECMO can also be used to assist in waiting for the heart to recover or to wait for an organ transplant (eg heart and/or lung transplant)

3. Working principle of ECMO . machine

The ECMO machine is connected to the patient through plastic tubes (cannula). The tubes are placed in large veins and arteries in the legs, neck, or chest.
The ECMO machine is a centrifugal pump that sucks oxygen-poor blood (black blood) from the patient's body to the artificial lung (ECMO membrane).
At the membrane exchanger, the blood is replenished with oxygen and CO2 is removed through a transmembrane air pump system (the oxygen mixer is like a breathing movement that brings air into our lungs).

After the blood has been exchanged at the membrane and enriched with oxygen (blood flow turns bright red) the ECMO machine is pumped back into the patient's blood vessels to feed the body.
Because the return pump can pump to cardiac pressure, ECMO is sometimes used to support patients with medical conditions that cause severe heart failure.

4. Designated object

Severe heart failure: myocarditis, myocardial infarction, heart failure due to other causes awaiting a heart transplant, cardiac arrest Anaphylactic shock causing irreversible cardiovascular collapse Severe lung damage due to infection or virus: influenza , Corona... Chronic lung disease that can't get rid of CO2, or life-threatening asthma or COPD exacerbations

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