Pediatric Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation: An Introduction for Emergency Medicine Physicians.

BACKGROUND: Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) therapy has supported critically ill pediatric patients in the intensive care unit setting with cardiac and respiratory failure. This therapy is beginning to transition to the emergency department setting. OBJECTIVE OF REVIEW: This article describes the fundamentals of ECMO and familiarizes the emergency medicine physician with its use in critically ill pediatric patients. DISCUSSION: ECMO can be utilized as either venoarterial (VA) or venovenous (VV), to support oxygenation and perfusion in respiratory failure, sepsis, cardiac arrest, and environmental hypothermia.