ECMO life-support therapy can increase odds of survival for critically-ill COVID-19 patients
COVID-19 has caused more than 2 million deaths worldwide since the World Health Organization declared it a pandemic in March 2020. Patients with severe COVID-19 frequently experience respiratory distress and require assistance breathing. For patients whose lungs are so injured that even a ventilator is unable to deliver enough oxygen, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) which does the work of the lungs by removing carbon dioxide and adding oxygen to blood outside the body may improve the odds of survival for certain patients with severe COVID-19.
A study by physician-researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and Brigham and Women s Hospital (BWH) provides new evidence that critically ill patients with COVID-19 who were treated with ECMO had better odds of survival than those who were not treated with ECMO. The findings published in
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New evidence sheds light on best practices for treating patients with severe respiratory failure from COVID-19
Findings suggest ECMO life-support therapy can improve odds of survival for patients critically ill with COVID-19
BOSTON – COVID-19 has caused more than 2 million deaths worldwide since the World Health Organization declared it a pandemic in March 2020. Patients with severe COVID-19 frequently experience respiratory distress and require assistance breathing. For patients whose lungs are so injured that even a ventilator is unable to deliver enough oxygen, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) which does the work of the lungs by removing carbon dioxide and adding oxygen to blood outside the body may improve the odds of survival for certain patients with severe COVID-19.