Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalithaa on life support: Here’s how ECMO works

Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa “continues to be very critical,” a day after suffering cardiac arrest, and is on various life support systems. Apollo Hospitals said she is on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machine.

Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa “continues to be very critical,” a day after suffering cardiac arrest, and is on various life support systems. Apollo Hospitals said she is on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machine. Here is what the ECMO machine does:

A woman holds a portrait of Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa Jayaram as she prays for her recovery. (AFP Photo)

• ECMO is a life-support heart-lung “bypass” machine that takes over the workload of the heart and lungs to rescue cardiac arrest patients not responding to conventional treatment.

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• “Extracorporeal” refers to blood circulating outside of the body, and “membrane oxygenation” refers to the mechanical lungs that remove the carbon dioxide and put oxygen into the blood.

• The machine drains the blood from the veins, removes the carbon dioxide, adds oxygen and warms the blood before pumping it back into an artery, thus bypassing the heart and lungs.

• ECMO does not heal the heart or the lungs but takes over their function to allow them to rest and recover.

• Patients can be on ECMO for several hours to days and a few weeks.

• When a patient’s heart and the lungs are healthy enough to function on their own, ECMO support is gradually removed.

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