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ECMO

ECMO stands for Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation. It is the use of a heart-lung bypass machine on infants and children who are suffering from severe heart and lung failure. The treatment allows a baby's or child's blood to be oxygenated (meaning to add oxygen to the blood) outside the body. In other words, the machine takes over the functions of the heart and lungs. ECMO is an intensive treatment and is used only when other treatments - such as medications, mechanical ventilation - are not working.

Lucile Packard Children's Hospital has the highest volume ECMO program and the most experience in northern California. Since its inception in 1988, more than 300 infants have been treated with ECMO in our neonatal intensive care unit.

Five of our neonatologists are specially trained on ECMO and we consistently have excellent outcomes, meeting or exceeding national benchmarks. Through a unique collaboration among perinatologists, geneticists and pediatric cardiologists, we also offer fetal diagnosis and ECMO management.