Clinical toxicology : the official journal of the American Academy of Clinical Toxicology and European Association of Poisons Centres and Clinical Toxicologists
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Clin Toxicol (Phila) · Jun 2013
ReviewExtracorporeal membrane oxygenation in the treatment of poisoned patients.
Although extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) was used in many patients following its introduction in 1972, most hospitals had abandoned this experimental treatment for adult patients. Recently, improvements in the ECMO circuitry rendered it more biocompatible. The surprisingly low mortality in patients with severe acute respiratory distress syndrome who were treated with ECMO in the influenza A/H1N1 pandemic of 2009 resurrected interest in ECMO in many intensive care units around the world. ⋯ In the last decade, ECMO equipment has improved considerably, rendering it more biocompatible, and it has been used more frequently as an assist device for patients needing oxygenation as well as circulatory support. ECMO is considered a good salvage therapy for patients who are severely poisoned with ARDS or refractory circulatory shock.