Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO)

Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) is a specialized life support machine that is now available at St. Luke’s. It’s one of a limited number of ECMO machines in the state.

According to the American Thoracic Society individuals in need of ECMO have severe and life-threatening illnesses that stops the heart or lungs from working properly.

During ECMO treatment blood is withdrawn from a large vein the body, then passed through a pumping mechanism and a device that adds oxygen and removes carbon dioxide. Blood is then returned to the individual’s circulatory system. ECMO is a potential short-term treatment for cardiac and respiratory failure patients and is an option for patients who may have had a heart attack, infection, pneumonia, influenza, trauma or smoke inhalation, among others.

Co-medical Directors of the program,UnityPoint Clinic Multi-Specialty Pulmonologist Muhammad Anwer, MD and St. Luke’s Cardiothoracic Surgeon Garry Weide, DO, started the hospital’s ECMO program in January.

“This important supportive treatment at St. Luke’s is backed by a highly-skilled multidisciplinary team,” explains Dr. Weide. “ECMO provides an option for our sickest patients to give their lungs a chance to heal and to sustain life as their body recovers from an illness. It will be an option for more patients earlier in the course of treatment to allow the body to heal over the course of a few days to a few weeks. We are prepared to accept patients from other institutions that do not have this therapy to help save lives in Eastern Iowa.”

ECMO is once more example of the advanced treatment available close to home at the UnityPoint Health Heart and Vascular Institute.