ECMO Support Cost at Charite University Hospital

Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation, also known as extracorporeal life support, is an extracorporeal technique of providing prolonged cardiac and respiratory support to persons whose heart and lungs are unable to provide an adequate amount of gas exchange or perfusion to sustain life.

Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) procedure involves pumping and oxygenation of a patient's blood outside the body, allowing the heart and lungs to rest. When an individual is connected to an ECMO, blood flows through tubing to an artificial lung in the machine that adds oxygen and takes out carbon dioxide, then the blood is warmed to body temperature and pumped back into the body.