An ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) machine is a life support machine that takes over the function of the heart and lungs. When patients are connected to an ECMO machine, their blood is pumped via tubes to a machine that adds oxygen and removes carbon dioxide, like the lungs normally would, which is then pumped back into their body. It鈥檚 different from a ventilator, which enhances the function of a patient鈥檚 own lungs.
Some covid-19 patients who don鈥檛 get better on a ventilator may be hooked up to an ECMO machine instead. However, ECMO is unable to save covid-19 patients with multiple organs that have already started to shut down, because it only replaces the job of the lungs and sometimes the heart, not other organs.
ECMO machines tend to only be used in big hospitals because they are very expensive and require large teams of specialists to operate.
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