ECMO History

  • ECMO first started in the 1970s with Dr. John Gibbon Jr,a scientist who is regarded as the first successful surgeon to use cardiopulmonary bypass. [1]
  • Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is a form of circulatory support used in patients with cardiac and/or respiratory failure. [2]
    • The device performs the function of the heart and lungs to allow recovery of those organ

Statistics

  • Thrombosis, or blood clots forming in the vessels, is one of the most common complications with ECMO (Figure 1)
    • To avoid this, anticoagulant is often used, but it needs constant monitoring.
  • In a 180-day study in the UK, the rate of venous thrombosis for ECMO patients was 44.7% [3]
  • In a study, 40.2% of ECMO patients experienced  at least 1 bleeding and/or thrombosis event [4]

Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT)

Figure 1: Visual of Deep Vein Thrombosis [5]

References:

  • [1]Rabah, Hussein, and Ali Rabah. “Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO): What We Need to Know.” Cureus vol. 14,7 e26735. 11 Jul. 2022, doi:10.7759/cureus.26735
  • [2]INTENSIVE. “The History of ECMO.” INTENSIVE, 4 Aug. 2021, intensiveblog.com/the-history-of-ecmo/#:~:text=1930s%20%2D1940s%3A%20The%20conception%20f. Accessed 1 Oct. 2023.
  • [3] Arachchillage DJ, Rajakaruna I, Scott I, Gaspar M, Odho Z, Banya W, Vlachou A, Isgro G, Cagova L, Wade J, Fleming L, Laffan M, Szydlo R, Ledot S, Jooste R, Vuylsteke A, Yusuff H. Impact of major bleeding and thrombosis on 180-day survival in patients with severe COVID-19 supported with veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in the United Kingdom: a multicentre observational study. Br J Haematol. 2022 Feb;196(3):566-576. doi: 10.1111/bjh.17870. Epub 2021 Oct 7. PMID: 34622443; PMCID: PMC8653259.
  • [4] Nunez, J.I., Gosling, A.F., O’Gara, B. et al. Bleeding and thrombotic events in adults supported with venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation: an ELSO registry analysis. Intensive Care Med 48, 213–224 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00134-021-06593-x
  • [5] Image source: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/16911-deep-vein-thrombosis-dvt