Alain Combes, Matthieu Schmidt, Carol L Hodgson, Eddy Fan, Niall D Ferguson, John F Fraser, Samir Jaber, Antonio Pesenti, Marco Ranieri, Kathryn Rowan, Kiran Shekar, Arthur S Slutsky, Daniel Brodie
Extracorporeal life support (ECLS) can support gas exchange in patients with the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). During ECLS, venous blood is drained from a central vein via a cannula, pumped through a semipermeable membrane that permits diffusion of oxygen and carbon dioxide, and returned via a cannula to a central vein. Two related forms of ECLS are used. Venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), which uses high blood flow rates to both oxygenate the blood and remove carbon dioxide, may be considered in patients with severe ARDS whose oxygenation or ventilation cannot be maintained adequately with best practice conventional mechanical ventilation and adjunctive therapies, including prone positioning...
December 2020: Intensive Care Medicine