PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The purpose is to review the development and current application of extracorporeal life support [ECLS, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO)] in acute severe respiratory failure. RECENT FINDINGS: Extracorporeal support (ECMO) is used for acute severe respiratory failure in advanced ICUs. The current survival rate is 60-70%. Three controlled trials all demonstrated 20-30% improvement in survival compared to conventional care. Patients may now be maintained awake and ambulatory with spontaneous breathing. SUMMARY: ECMO is the next step in the algorithm for management of severe respiratory failure unresponsive to conventional care.
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Bartlett et al. (2015) studied this question.