How long will my family member be on ECMO?
We will continue ECMO therapy until the heart or lungs recover, or until treatment is not effective; it may be a period of days or weeks. The type of lung or heart disease, the amount of damage to the heart or lungs before ECMO, and other illnesses or complications affects the length of time on ECMO. As the heart or lungs start to heal, we will reduce the amount of ECMO support. When the patient shows signs of getting better we will "trial off" ECMO. We turn up the ventilator to support and assist the patient while we stop the ECMO support for the trial. If the heart and lungs have healed enough to support the patient's needs, then we will discontinue ECMO support.
Once we make the decision to stop ECMO, the surgeons will remove the cannulas. The patient will remain on the ventilator for support for several days or weeks, until further improvement takes place.