Bengaluru: Thirty six year old Lokesh is lucky to be alive as he survived an advanced stage of respiratory failure. Lokesh thanks not only his doctor, but also a life-saving machine called Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO).
This and much more was discussed on Thursday at a media briefing on myths and facts about ECMO conducted by Vikram Hospital in Bengaluru. The objective of the dialogue was to improve the understanding of ECMO and raise the level of awareness about its role in critical care among the masses.
ECMO is a form of extra-corporeal life support where an external artificial circuit carries venous blood from the patient to a gas exchange devise (oxygenator) where blood becomes enriched with oxygen and has carbon dioxide removed. This blood then re-enters the patient’s circulation.
“ECMO for adults is a new modality treatment available only in very few centres across the globe. Awareness about it is low. It can provide cardiac and respiratory support temporarily to patients whose heart and lungs are so severely diseased that they can no longer serve their function while allowing the underlying process to heal,” said Dr Vijayakumar Anaiahreddy, a consultant of cardiac care in Vikram Hospital.
There are two types of ECMO – VV-ECMO and VA-ECMO. In VV-ECMO, venous blood is accessed from the large central veins, pumped through the oxygenator and returned to the venous system near the right atrium. It provides support for severe respiratory failure.
In case of VA-ECMO, venous blood is accessed from the large central veins, pumped through the oxygenator and returned to the systemic arterial system in the aorta. Re-circulation cannot occur in VA-ECMO. Its pump provides cardiac support for severe cardiac failure (with or without associated respiratory failure).
Dr Ganeshakrishnan Iyer, consultant cardio vascular & thoracic surgeon in Vikram Hospital, said, “The best feature about ECMO is that it can be used at any age. Everyone, who needs it can benefit from the procedure. In case of patients who have chances of reversibility of heart-lung function, it reduces the stress on these organs. Conversely, it won’t be of use to those suffering from irreversible heart damage. Also, those awaiting a heart transplant can be put on ECMO till they get a donor.”
