ECMO - Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation

I am Dr. Kewal Krishan. I am a cardiac surgeon at max hospital, Saket. I am director of heart transplant ventricular assist device program. We have a separate vertical. Its only vertical in this country.

A spate department for heart transplant ventricle assist device and ECMO. When I was trained in US at MIO clinic and mount san in New York and then I came back to India and we started this ECMO program. ECMO is a Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. When your patient is on ventilator in ICU and they are told that we don’t have any other option. When your lungs are completely diseased because of swine flu or other pneumonia or some any reason. The ventilator despise 100% settings of ventilator a full ventrilatory support, they are not being oxygenated, the organs will dead and the patient will die. So what we do is we put these patients are referred to us to put the patient on ECMO. ECMO is basically takes out 5 litters of blood in a minute from the body and puts back the oxygenated blood. Weather your lungs are working or not for a few days we can be use this. This thing, this thing, this particular therapy can be used up to 28 days to 36 days and what we do is we put the patient on ECMO, the ventilator settings we keep to the down level so the hearts, the lungs they get, they take rest. And it can be used either for heart or for lungs or for both the organs and once the patients get better we wean the ECMO and we put the patient, we remove the ECMO and patient goes home safely. We have done so far 52 ECMOs . so probably this is the maximum number in the country. We have referral number center for ECMO in this north India and, and our results are close to, to the international results, 60 to 70% results. I am talking of those patients those who otherwise would have died had they not put on ECMO. So believe me it’s a very important tools to save many lives. If your patient is on ventilator and Dr. says now there is no chance for survival you should first, I think you should concern, consult for weather their patient can be put on ECMO and save their life. And that’s the way we save many lives because of far acute conditions.

Thank you very much and if you can, you can go more on detail on this you go on my website, kewalkrishan.com or you can go to Lybrate website.