Now we are at the point where we can start to apply our discussion of physiology to specific extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) configurations. As you will see, even though they…

By now, I wouldn’t be surprised if you were asking yourself, “I thought this was a book about ECMO?” Why are we talking about hemoglobin dissociation, shock recognition, shunt physiology,…

In this chapter, we tackle one of the most sobering and important topics related to extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) – selection of patients for ECMO. In doing so, we are…

Let’s start our discussion of the fundamentals of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) by returning to our graph. We have spent the last few chapters developing and unpacking the simple but…

Hopefully by now we are starting to develop a healthy appreciation for oxygen delivery – why it is so important, how it can be augmented, and the limitations that exist….

What is meant by shock? Let’s return to our two intensive care unit (ICU) patients. Patient A: BP 100/40, HR 114, UOP < 10 mL Patient B: BP 80/40, HR…

Imagine that you walk into a typical intensive care unit (ICU). You look around and note what you see: in one room a 78-year-old man with urosepsis and septic shock,…

Now we are going to bring our discussion of shock to the next level and start to explore some patterns that can help us with recognition of shock. Remember, if…

Let’s now turn our attention to the membrane itself. We will explore the function of the membrane oxygenator, its limits, and how we can appraise and assess this function at…

When I am consenting a family for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) and discussing the risks and benefits to initiating ­support, bleeding and clotting are the most common risks that are…