ECMO (Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation)

Patient Resources

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Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is a mechanical support therapy we use when critically ill patients with respiratory and/or cardiac failure no longer respond to conventional critical care drugs and devices. The ECMO pump, artificial lung and circuit take over the work of the lungs and sometimes the heart. They extract a patient’s blood, removing the carbon dioxide, adding oxygen (functions our healthy lungs around the clock), and returns that blood to the body.

In a patient with a failing heart, it can return that oxygenated blood to the aorta, thereby bypassing the heart and taking over its pumping function. Historically, ECMO was reserved for patients whose risk of mortality using conventional therapies, such as invasive mechanical ventilation and/or vasopressors in high doses, exceeded 80 percent. As the technology and our expertise with it improved, we now also use ECMO to help prevent organ injury caused by extreme conventional therapy support, such as ventilator-induced lung injury.

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At Texas Children’s’ Hospital (TCH) we have a state-of-the-art ECMO team that performs up to 100 cases of ECMO a year, with outcomes equal or better than the national standards. At TCH, we believe the most critically ill children at other institutions with fewer technical and human resources should also benefit from ECMO. We created our ECMO transport team in 2011 to convert that belief into reality. Texas Children’s ECMO transport team members are experts in emergency transport medicine and ECMO. We can start ECMO support on severely ill patients at other institutions and bring them to Texas Children’s for further management, or retrieve patients already on ECMO who need a higher level of care and expertise.

We transport patients by road or air, providing ECMO support at all times. Transport on ECMO is safe, and our outcomes in transporting these critically ill patients are comparable to other non-transport related patients receiving ECMO support. We work with many organizations, locally and nationally, to provide ECMO transport services for their patients who need a higher level of care. Early recognition of the need for ECMO is key to providing the best possible outcomes for these critically ill children.

If you think your patient or loved one may be in need of ECMO, please call our Transfer Center at TCH 832-824-5500 and follow instructions to request a transfer to one of our critical care units and indicate you think you may need an ECMO transport.