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All About ECMO Conditions

What is ECMO?


Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation, or ECMO, is a temporary machine that adds oxygen and removes carbon dioxide from your child's blood outside the body and returns the blood to your child — effectively doing the work of the lungs and/or heart when they are too sick to do so. By taking the workload off the failing heart and/or lungs, ECMO lets these organs rest in hopes of helping them recover over time.

ECMO is similar to the heart-lung bypass machine used in the operating room during open-heart surgery. The ECMO machine can be used for days to weeks while doctors treat the underlying problem.

A surgeon will place one or more plastic tubes through large blood vessels in your child's neck, leg, or chest. Your child will receive pain medication, sedation, and other medications to keep them comfortable. Depending on your child's condition and needs, we will use one of two ECMO approaches:

  • Venoarterial (VA) ECMO is used when both the heart and the lungs need time to rest and heal.

  • Venovenous (VV) ECMO is used when the heart works well, but the lungs need time to rest and heal.

Reasons for ECMO


Children who need ECMO may have one of the following conditions:

  • Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome
    When fluid builds up in the lungs.
  • Air Leak Syndrome
    When air leaks out of the normal lung spaces.
  • Arrhythmias
    An irregular heartbeat.
  • Aspiration Syndrome
    When something is inhaled into the lungs besides air.
  • Cardiac arrest
    When a child needs CPR.
  • Cardiomyopathy
    When the muscles of the heart get weak.
  • Congenital diaphragmatic hernia
    When part of the stomach and/or intestines move into the chest through a hole in the diaphragm and puts pressure on the lungs.
  • Congenital heart conditions
    When a baby is born with heart structure problems
  • Heart failure
    When a heart can’t pump blood well enough to meet the body’s needs.
  • Lung failure
    When a child’s lungs can’t provide enough oxygen or carbon dioxide removal to meet the body’s needs.
  • Meconium Aspiration Syndrome
    A condition that occurs when meconium, the first stool of a newborn, is breathed in by the baby during delivery and causes lung problems.
  • Myocarditis
    When the muscles of the heart get inflamed.
  • Pneumonia
    An infection in the lungs that is caused by bacteria, viruses, or fungi.
  • Pulmonary hypertension
    When the blood pressure in the arteries that supply blood to the lungs is too high.
  • Sepsis
    A severe infection in the blood.
  • Status Asthmaticus
    A serious asthma attack that does not get better with medication and oxygen.

Risk of ECMO


ECMO is a safe, effective therapy that provides lung and heart support for critically ill children. ECMO is only used for very sick children for whom other treatments have not helped. Like any treatment, ECMO has certain risks, including:

Common procedures

  • Blood transfusions

  • Frequent lab draws

  • Medications

  • Collaboration with other specialty teams – renal and apheresis 

Children's Mercy Kansas City   /    Departments and Clinics   /    Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Program   /   All About ECMO Conditions