Extracorporeal Oxygenation Therapy

Therapy extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), is a device that temporarily replaces the function of the heart and lungs. The device consists of an artificial mechanism external to the patient that actually supports the respiratory and circulatory function, and consists of a centrifugal pump that sucks the blood of the right chambers of the heart and then an oxygenator and returns the oxygenated blood through the same device into the left cardiac cavities. The implant device can be performed through an incision in the groin up to the femoral vessels, easier access and less invasive for the patient than opening the chest. The main indications for the use of this system are the pre-and post-transplant heart, following complex heart surgery or after a lung transplant graft dysfunction.