Webinar #07 - Medical and nursing care for COVID-19 using ECMO

The webinar will focus on the role of ECMO in treatment of Covid-19 patients. Updated international guidelines for ECMO treatment including indications, ongoing care, complications and outcome.

Over the past year the international medical community accumulated ample evidence on the role of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) support for patients with cardiopulmonary failure due to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Coronavirus’s clinical severity ranges in the spectrum from an asymptomatic carrier state to severe hypoxemic respiratory failure. A prominent feature of COVID-19 in critically ill patients is Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS). Among adults with severe respiratory failure due to the ARDS, early ECMO support, compared with conventional management, significantly improves survival at 90 days. Some patients need ECMO despite following the guideline-based management of ARDS.

Early reports from China on the use of ECMO in COVID-19-associated ARDS indicated unfavorable outcomes, raising questions about its usefulness in the context of restricted intensive care unit (ICU) beds and resources. There was an exponential increase in ECMO centers and cases during the last year, and with time and cumulative international experience, outcomes for ECMO patients have improved significantly: According to ELSO data, total counts of COVID-19 confirmed patients was 7052. Reported in hospital mortality rate was 49% of the 5854 patients initiated ECMO at least 90 days ago.

1. Indications and contraindications of ECMO in Covid 19
2. ECMO in ARDS
3. Ongoing Nursing Care highlights
4. Common complications
5. Outcome worldwide and Israel