 |
|
 |
|
300 Longwood Avenue
Boston, MA 02115
(617) 355-6000
|
|
|
|
|
Clinical Services:
|
|
How ECMO Is Used
|
|
Babies and children placed on ECMO have serious, but reversible, medical conditions that impair heart or lung function, or both. While a child awaits treatment or recovers from treatment, the ECMO machine does the work for the child's heart and lungs, until these vital organs recover and can function well independently. ECMO maintains blood flow and oxygenation to the vital organs (liver, kidney, brain), so that the function of these organs are maintained while the heart or the lungs recover.
At Children's Hospital Boston, ECMO has been successfully used in the following ways:
|
|
|
- For babies and children with severe lung conditions. Lungs provide oxygen to the body through blood, and remove carbon dioxide from blood. Sometimes, when lungs aren't functioning because of illness or injury, the problem is so severe it cannot be helped with support from medication or respirators. ECMO may be used to support lung function in the case of severe lung conditions such as neonatal respiratory distress syndrome, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, neonatal meconium aspiration syndrome, pulmonary hypertension, severe pneumonia or respiratory failure.
- As a bridge to cardiac surgery for newborns. Some newborns have severe heart failure or elevated pressures in the pulmonary arteries of their lungs, and may not be able to maintain a normal blood pressure or oxygen level in the blood. On a number of occasions, ECMO has been used to support and rest the heart after birth, to allow newborns to recover before undergoing successful cardiac surgery.
- For children who undergo cardiac surgery. Sometimes, following heart surgery, the heart doesn't function well enough to support sufficient blood flow and oxygen delivery to the organs and tissues of the body. ECMO can be used in this circumstance to provide sufficient blood flow and oxygen to vital organs while the heart recovers. On some occasions, the heart does not recover following surgery and further investigation is needed. This may include moving a patient on the ECMO circuit to the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory to measure pressures in the heart and inject dye to look for problems.
- As a bridge to heart transplantation. Heart failure in children can occur following surgery, or in children with other heart conditions such as cadiomyopathy and myocarditis. In these children, a heart transplant may be needed if the heart can't supply sufficient blood flow and oxygen to the body. Patients may develop severe heart failure while waiting for a donor heart to become available. ECMO offers a short-term solution.
- For children who go into sudden cardiac arrest. ECMO is sometimes used as a backup to revive patients whose hearts stop beating when other treatments, such as medications or a respirator, have failed to resuscitate these patients. A team of ECMO specialists place patients who go into sudden cardiac arrest on ECMO so that proper diagnosis and treatment may be continued.
- Ventricular Assist Device Program: Some patients on ECMO who have not recivered adequate cardiac and respiratory function and need longer duration of support beyond the safe period for ECMO, can be transitioned to longer mechanical support devices such as ventricular assist devices. We currently offer this to selected patients on ECMO who may benefit from further support or as a bridge to transplantation.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The information on this website should not be taken as medical advice,
which can only be given to you by your personal health care professional. |
|
|
|
Copyright © Children's Hospital Boston. All rights reserved. |
|
|
|
|