Extracorporeal Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation

Extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation is a method of resuscitating a person in cardiac arrest that passes the patient blood through a portable extracorporeal membrane oxygenation device as an adjunct to standard chest compressions, rather than relying on compressions alone. A patient in cardiac arrest that has not responded to standard resuscitation has catheters inserted into the femoral vein and artery so the device can maintain circulation and oxygenation to the brain and other organs while clinicians assess whether the underlying cause can be reversed, with the aim of improving long term survival and neurological outcome.