Extra Level Support for Heart or Lung Failure
Baylor University Medical Center is not only home to the busiest adult extra corporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) program in North Texas, but also home to the region’s only ECMO Deployment Program.
ECMO uses advanced technology to provide temporary blood circulation and respiratory support in cases of life-threatening heart or lung failure, while these organs recover from injury, illness or a surgical procedure. It also can be used as a life-supporting, short-term bridge to heart transplantation or lung transplantation. ECMO technology both provides needed oxygen to the blood (lung/respiratory support) and helps circulate it throughout the body (heart/circulatory support).
Led by an experienced team of cardiothoracic surgeons and surgical intensivists on the Baylor Dallas medical staff, Baylor Dallas’ ECMO program has been designated an Adult Cardiac and Pulmonary ECMO Center of excellence by the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization and features patient outcomes which routinely exceed the national average for both cardiac and respiratory failure.
Throughout North Texas and Beyond
The Baylor Dallas ECMO Deployment Program makes the advanced technology and skilled ECMO program team available to patients throughout North Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana.
The ECMO Deployment Program can send a quick response team of surgeons on the Baylor Dallas medical staff, certified perfusionists and specially trained ECMO Specialists to other healthcare facilities to initiate ECMO on patients experiencing heart or lung failure. The team can transport patients by ambulance, airplane or helicopter back to Baylor Dallas for advanced heart and lung care.
Conditions Treated by ECMO
ECMO may be appropriate for patients experiencing heart and/or lung failure due to a variety of causes.
Heart failure due to:
- Heart attack (acute myocardial infarction)
- Decompensated chronic heart failure
- Myocarditis
- Miocardiopatía
- Cardiopulmonary resuscitation adjunct (E-CPR)
Respiratory (lung) failure due to:
- Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS)
- Neumonía
- Flu (influenza)
- Ruptured lung (massive bronchopleural fistula)
- Post-trauma shock lung
- End-stage lung disease (cystic fibrosis, pulmonary fibrosis)
For more information about ECMO, call 214.820.6444.