Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation - a Case of Young Woman

The ECMO stands for Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation. It is a device, which provides both respiratory and circulatory support for people whose heart and lungs are unable to provide eough blood oxygenation and perfusion for the organs, regardless the reason.

The ECMO works, by removing the blood from the patient's body. Then the blood is oxygenated and decarbonated by the artificial "lung" and then it's returned to the body by the pump. The indications of ECMO include acute severe cardiac or pulmonary failure, which is unresponsive to the conventional treatment but is also potentially reversible.

The video above presents a case of a female patient, with an unexpecetd anaesthesia complication during standard surgery. Video uploaded by Arie Blitz, MD.