Ambulatory extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) as a bridge to lung transplantation

Abstract

Ambulatory extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) has shown promise as a bridge to lung transplantation. The primary goal of ambulatory ECMO is to provide enough gas exchange to allow patients to participate in preoperative physical therapy. Various strategies of ambulatory ECMO are utilized depending upon patients' need. A wide spectrum of ECMO configurations is available to tackle this situation. We discuss those configurations in this article.

Keywords: Ambulatory ECMO; Bridge to lung transplantation; VA ECMO; VV ECMO.